As we begin to look ahead to 2023, most digital marketing predictions seem to be carryover predications that were made about 2022, including brand authenticity, first-party data and influencer marketing, which for 2023, are being expanded on and relabeled as themes encompassing content, commerce and community.

As 2022 comes to a close, COVID-19 and recession fears dramatically changed how both B2C and B2B organizations and brands used digital marketing and social media platforms to adapt to their consumers’ shopping behaviors, as well as how business and professional services customers are dictating how they want to learn and source information before they make a purchase.

Despite Google now delaying cookie-cutting until 2024, Apple and Meta’s shift in privacy preferences, and the demise of third-party data platforms, organizations are scrambling to build out and capture their own first-party data. There was also the use of influencers for B2C brands and B2B companies in order to drive audience relevance and brand influence, and the growing presence of and trepidation about venturing into the Metaverse.

To help make sense of what’s next, we have consolidated several 2023 trend reports as well as referencing back to several of our posts throughout the year that shed more light on these trends. The common thread throughout all of these reports, as simply articulated by Dentsu, was how content, commerce and community were going to have a consequential impact on consumer and business brand growth, driven by engagement and monetization.

Opportunity 1: Content

As per this study by Edelman, “71% of decision-makers say that half or less than half of the thought-leadership content they read or watch gives them any sort of valuable insights.” The same study shared that “research from Gartner shows that 83% of a typical B2B purchasing decision—researching solutions, ranking options and benchmarking pricing—happens before a buyer engages directly with a provider.”

These stats not only redefine the purchasing funnel, but emphasize the importance of generating content that is externally focused on what interests are driving your audiences, be that customers, media or prospective employees. What are they searching for? And what type of content—e.g., videos, podcasts, reviews or studies—do they prefer to engage with?

To broaden content and channel offerings and deepen their relevance with an organization, product or service, here are various forms of content that can be tested on as well as evangelized with your audience:

Gaming

Platforms like Snapchat and TikTok are increasing engagement with games, and even Spotify recently entered into the gaming space via Roblox with Spotify Island, a virtual destination where fans and artists can connect and explore game-related playlists.

B2B can use gamification as way to discovery, inform and educate prospects about its product or service. Who can then be rewarded for playing by offering them virtual points or an eBook, and can incentivized for sharing. In addition, to moving the prospect down the funnel faster, it will allow B2B marketers a way to monitor and measure engagement with their audience.

This Dentsu study suggests organizations and brands consider the following:

Investigate gaming as a channel and content form. What level of involvement is most appropriate for your audiences?

Ideate around on-site content. Can games help to explain innovations, sustainability or other initiatives effectively?

Test new approaches using established technology partners, extending current campaigns to new platforms

Podcasts

In 2022, 13% of people used their computer to listen to a podcast, 28% did so when driving and 73% listened to them on their cell phones. In addition, smart speaker ownership grew by over 22% during the first year of the pandemic, as more people worked from home, and more than 35% of Americans 18 and older own a smart speaker. In fact, more Americans listen to podcasts than have Netflix accounts.

By incorporating podcasts into your content marketing mix, brands, products or services, you can incorporate storytelling to personalize the message by speaking directly to your audience and deepening your relationship with them. Podcasts can:

Increase your social followers and create advocacy

Educate and immerse audiences to learn something new about your brand, product or service

Expand your audience’s communication preferences about how they wish to engage with you

Keep your subscribed audiences continuously excited about upcoming episodes

Persuade your audiences to take action

Channeling Your Brand’s IP

As we first shared here, in an effort to capitalize on engagement and fandom, brands such as Walmart, John Deere and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions are recognizing the power of their Intellectual Property (IP) to boost brand value through digital experiences that strengthen the brands’ position via digital investments, strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

Some brands are relying on both their own IP and a partner’s through intellectual property mashups to unify and scale engagement, content and experiences in order to deepen their relationships with audiences. For example, John Deere, the 185-year-old industrial agricultural and forestry equipment and consumer lawn care line, is using its IP to help accelerate its digital transformation. To empower its customers and employees to experience its products firsthand, John Deere has created a virtual tractor driving experience that brings together the digital and physical worlds through the user’s phone.

Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning has built his own production company, Omaha Productions. By utilizing his own IP as a successful NFL player and analyst and by virtue of his likable personality and sense of humor, he’s been able to sign clients, ranging from ESPN, the NFL and Caesars Sportsbook, to content and podcast deals.

Opportunity 2: Commerce

As of Q3 of this year, U.S. e-commerce hit $735.12 billion, up 8.3% from $678.87 billion in the first three quarters of 2021. Digital sales accounted for nearly a quarter—23.2%—of the gains in retail spending across all channels. While it’s unlikely that the post-COVID-19 environment will be able to sustain this growth, e-commerce is no longer driven by a purpose, but by an always-on shopping experience audience.

Explore how you can deepen your audiences’ digital experience, and then use these insights to better connect the customer to the product to increase sales and loyalty.

In this article, 80% of consumers said that they’d be more likely to do business with a brand that provides a personalized experience, as per a survey by Epsilon.

“Improvements in technology, such as AI, combined with increased data collection and insights from social media and other sources, have made it possible and easy to hyper-personalize everything from content to design to product recommendations and everything in between.”

To embrace the transformative B2B buyer through personalization, we previously shared why these organizations will need to intertwine their products or services with an emotional side that connects to their customers in ways that are authentic and transparent. These emotional triggers should tap into how they can get more done, save time, or stand out against the competition. B2B can do this is by incorporating storytelling that conveys emotion and empathy. By humanizing their product or service, B2B organizations are walking in the shoes of their customer and are straightforward about how they are removing business pain points for them.

Start by looking at what data can help to inform your personalization strategy:

Is there an opportunity to retarget audiences through email based on their purchase history?

Provide informative content based on the time of year and a previous purchase

Reengage with lapsed users by reminding them that it’s time to replenish a product or that they are due for a service

Get your audiences to opt in for time-sensitive push notifications

Opportunity 3: Community

What is your organization’s or product’s purpose? What is your position on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives? This Dentsu study explains why a shift is underway and how we will need to rethink how brands build their community: “An evolution is underway in how brands harness the power of community building; shifting focus from ‘lifetime value’ to the commercial impact an individual has on the community. Impassioned people have always coalesced around causes, brands, products or even entertainment titles. People care about what the brands that they are buying stand for. They are now scrutinizing how brands behave, and the bigger picture that is at play in the wider world. We encourage our clients—to ensure that their brand purpose doesn’t sit on the sidelines—that they wear it every day as they build relationships with people.”

This is especially true for today’s and tomorrow’s Gen Z workforce and creating experiences that can humanize a company and help to rally a community emotionally around your cause. This article points to three attributes sustainability storytelling shares: “They are personal, they connect to the big picture and they paint a positive picture of the future.”

Notably, “58% of organizations that currently have a strong and clear sense of purpose experienced 10% or more growth during the last three years.” To rally your community, display your organization’s responsibility to employees, customers and the environment by:

Demonstrating how your organization, product or service is positively impacting society and the environment

Exhibiting transparency about your organization’s ethics pertaining to its sustainability practices, social responsibility and causes that display the company’s values

Delivering actions and results across social and into meaningful content for media outreach

And for 2023?

As you read this (and thank you for doing so!), ask yourself which of the above has your organization, product or service been doing? What can you be doing better, or what can you be doing more of? We do feel that content, commerce and community are all critical to any business, and the examples we have shared are applicable to various degrees and industries. If you asked us which should be prioritized, we’d say content and community; they go hand in hand and can support one another. Based on what you say and do, the commerce will come.

Thank you again for your support, and all the best to you and yours for a safe and prosperous 2023.

Photo by Renato Ramos Puma on Unsplash