Video Content

In the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing, where trends seem to shift like waves in the sea, one aspect has proved itself more than ever since Coronavirus lockdowns: Video Content.

As we rapidly approach 2024, it’s very clear that video content has solidified its position as the most successful aspect of many of the top marketing strategies across the internet.

The ability to captivate, engage and resonate with audiences across a range of platforms, has emphasised that video content is not merely a trend which will die out after a few years, but an essential tool that allows businesses to connect with their target audience.

Let’s delve into the reasons why video content continues to reign supreme in the modern digital space, and why it should be the focal point for marketers in 2024:

The Power of Visual Storytelling

People are naturally drawn to stories, which is why videos excel in the marketing space. Video content offers a dynamic method to create and deliver compelling stories, making narratives which evoke emotions, forge connections, and leave an impression that lasts.

Whether it’s a customer testimonial, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the company, or a compelling product test and demonstration, videos enable brands to convey their messages in a way that text and images simply cannot replicate.

Enhanced Engagement

In the marketing industry, it is a well known fact that videos are one of the content types with the best engagement. In the past, companies such as HubSpot and Wyzowl have done studies to prove this, where they found that videos are more likely to be shared, liked, and commented on compared to other media types such as photos and gifs.

The variety of content and sounds in videos help audience retention, as the content can change multiple times, unlike photos where a single piece of content is released.

To highlight this point even further, it has been recorded that both Millennials and Gen Z watch more video content than Gen X and Baby Boomers. This highlights a growing trend for younger audiences to move towards video content consumption as their preferred medium for information gathering and entertainment.

Expanding Social Media Dominance

Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok easily prove that video content is the most engaged with content on the platform.

In recent years, Instagram has made a huge shift in priorities, moving its most pushed content from photos to videos, or what they call reels. Social media platforms who allow the sharing of videos have grown exponentially in the past few years. Short videos are content used on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

These videos are designed to be quick and digestible, as it caters to the ever-decreasing attention spans of the audience, making them perfect as a marketing technique to use due to their widespread usage.

SEO

Search engines such as Google hold video content in high regard. In the past few years, it has been recognized that websites with videos embedded can rank much higher in search engine results pages (SERPS) than their counterparts without videos.

Video content can also massively improve session time, with users staying on the website to watch the content.

For online businesses it cannot be understated how important video marketing is for modern marketing strategies, with over 90% of marketers claiming a social media video post has resulted in new customer acquisition.

Platform Versatility

One of the best features of video content is the cross-platform versatility. Videos are a unique piece of content, as a single video can be used across multiple platforms.

For example, a video on a blog could be used for the company’s social media, web page or even can be used in advertising campaigns. As such, it is hardly surprising that good video content is one of the most effective cross-platform tools most influencers use.

Video content is an extremely versatile and popular content choice for marketers looking to expand their range of content in 2024.

It provides a way for companies to engage with their audience, and as we head into 2024, video content will only get more popular and with the likes of YouTube seeing activity from over 30% of the world’s population each month, this trend is not going to stop any time soon.

Data Privacy and Transparency

Due to a plethora of recent data breaches and cybersecurity incidents, many internet users now take their data privacy more seriously than ever.

As we enter 2024, a shift in consumer expectations has shown that data privacy and transparency have become some of the most essential marketing trends. Here’s how they can be used to shape successful marketing campaigns in the year ahead:

The Growing Concert for Data Privacy

The widespread adoption of social media and digital platforms has led to a massive increase in the amount of personal or sensitive data collected and shared online. With this increase, many consumers have heightened awareness of the risks associated with sharing their personal information with companies.

In 2022 alone, there have been over 1,800 data breaches, affecting over 400 million consumers, many of whom do not know their data has even been leaked.

Trust between consumers and companies who hold their data is at an all-time low, which is why it is an effective marketing technique, as sharing what you do with data, and being transparent when there is a data breach, is the only way to show consumers that they can trust your business.

The Power of Consumer Trust

In modern times, consumer trust is the cornerstone of all successful businesses. In an age where information is readily available to anyone, consumers are much more cautious about sharing their data and sensitive information.

An example of a company who markets their privacy is Apple. Apple markets the iPhone as having a high level of privacy and encryption, which even they cannot decipher. This has allowed Apple to become the best-selling smartphone brand on the planet.

Apple has marketed this as them trying to do ‘right’ by their customers, with increased privacy protection being linked to increased lifetime value of every user and maximising their revenue generated.

Using the power of consumer trust as a technique to market to said consumers is extremely viable and can generate many leads and can build trust in your target audience.

The Rise of Data Breach Awareness

High profile data breaches from companies such as LastPass have made international headlines, raising concerns about the vulnerability of personal data.

Consumers have found that companies who mishandled their data do not take as much responsibility as they should. There are also websites that inform users about their personal data being leaked, such as haveibeenpwned.com, which collects all the leaked emails, and informs users about the leaked data, and what they can do about it.

This proves that in the current environment, it is essential to keep data secure and to prevent data leaks, this marketing technique also helps brand image and reputation.

Moving into 2024, it has become obvious that data privacy and transparency are not mere guidelines or trends, but instead part of a pivotal shift in the marketing landscape which reflects changing consumer attitudes and the evolving regulatory environment.

Going forward it will be hard to dispute companies which prioritise data protection and privacy will be the ones that excel.

Voice Search Optimisation (VSO)

Voice Search Optimisation is a very useful tool for marketing professionals to use in 2024. This concept ranks websites in order of easiest to read and convenience to access information, as that information is then parsed by the Digital Assistant (e.g. Amazon Alexa etc) and stated to the questioner. Here, we delve into why VSO is an indispensable marketing trend to use in 2024:

The Voice Revolution

Voice enabled devices such as smart speakers and home assistants (Amazon Alexa, Google Home etc) have transitioned from being a thing of the imagination to a widely used, essential product for many households.

The use of such devices has changed how users interact with the digital space and, according to a report by ComScore, it’s estimated that by 2024, more than half of all searches will be conducted by voice.

Natural and Conversational Interactions:

The way we speak is very different to the way in which we type, and voice search caters for this. Voice search allows users to interact with technology in a more conversational way, while typing out questions is usually done in a more specific, short format manner.

Rather than using exact keywords, users tend to ask more specific questions. The shift in language greatly reduces the impact of normal SEO techniques, so marketing specifically for VSO is a great way to market your brand to consumers in the coming years.

Early Adoption and Competitive Edge

Although voice search is a rapidly growing search technique, it is still in the early stages of development. However, by including VSO in your marketing campaign, you can gain an advantage over your competitors, as you will be more likely to rank for the adopters of VSO.

You can also gain valuable insight into user behaviour from VSO and use it in campaigns to market your products or services to that specific audience. For those marketers looking ahead, VSO is not just a passing trend, it is still growing its user base as time passes, and eventually most devices will support VSO.

The analytics gained from VSO are also extremely useful, as it can be used to both learn how to market products effectively to the VSO audience, and how to encourage other users to also adopt VSO.

We hope you have enjoyed the first part in our series looking towards marketing trends moving into 2024 and beyond. As has been shown in the past decade, the marketing strategies which will stand out in the coming year will be those that harness these trends to engage, inspire and authentically connect with audiences on a deeper level. By keeping tabs on these trends and incorporating them into a businesses’ marketing efforts, a brand can be positioned for success – to discover more trends to look out for check out Part Two in our 2024 Marketing Trends to Watch.