While AI had many people in a tailspin in 2023, we are expecting more shake ups in marketing in 2024. Here are the trends we are closely watching this year.
Video - TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts
Video content remains at the top of the stack in consumed content online. It is predicted that by 2026, the average daily time spent with video content among adults in the US will top 184 minutes. That's over 3 hours per day! [source]
Despite the concerns over TikTok, the platform remains on the rise. The introduction of YouTube Shorts is offering bite size videos for watchers in between the long form content they are consuming over on YouTube. And Instagram video isn't going anywhere. You need a gameplan for how you plan to use video this year or you are going to be left behind.
AI - Rules & Regulations
We all know AI will continue to evolve (hopefully not to full intelligence level) so we are certainly watching what is happening in this space. But we are specifically on the lookout for what rules and regulations will be coming out around AI usage. Will AI generated content (image and text) need to be labeled/tagged as such? Will AI text need to be cited in your blog posts? How can you keep AI bots from scraping your site content to use in their modeling? As things advance, you can bet regulations and requirements will come along with those advancements.
Read more about some popular AI related questions.
Long Tail Keywords
Voice search is nothing new, but the rate at which people are using voice search is on the rise. From Siri to Alexa, people are using their technology BFFs to ask for information without needing to lift a finger. Spend some time focusing on long tail keywords, or those keywords that are in phrases or questions to ensure your content is most helpful.
Learn about how to research keywords for your business or brand.
Google Search + TikTok
Google and TikTok were testing out a partnership late in 2023, displaying Google search results inside TikTok searches.
Gen Z is already relying on TikTok as their search engine of choice. Don't believe me, ask any teen the last time they looked something up whether they started on TikTok or Google? One survey found that 51% of Gen Z women prefer TikTok search over Google. Users are not only searching, but they are buying on the platform in mass quantities - nearly 3 out of 4 Gen Zers bought something after seeing it on TikTok! [source] We'll be keeping a close eye on how this partnership evolves this year.
Read more about TikTok in this previous blog article.
If these trends have you worried about your marketing strategy for the year, reach out to see how JH can help you stay ahead of the competition.
