The start of a new year is the perfect time to take stock of your business and think about what the next twelve months have in store, whether that’s growth, launching a new project, or trying out something completely different. In this handy guide we’ve compiled all of the very best trends, tips, and strategies that will take your business to the next level in 2023.
From how to best connect with your audience, how to stay authentic, and the content that works best on each platform, take a look through our analysis of current trends and how they will help boost your business. We’re constantly drawing on advice and expertise from the Hatch community, made up of thousands of the best entrepreneurial minds in the sector, so check through our previous blogs from 2022 to take advantage of all that knowledge!
Table of Contents
Marketing
The key buzzword in marketing for 2023 is: diversify! In everything from your income streams, to how you reach your audience, it’s increasingly important to meld together a range of different strategies and platforms to reach your business goals.
Businesses may have seen e-commerce thrive over the pandemic, but as customers begin to seek out that in-person connection with brands again it may be time to start hitting those events, markets, and pop-ups to find new audiences.
Similarly we have seen increasing instability across social media platforms this year, serving as a stark reminder that platforms that are not owned can never be fully relied upon. Regardless of how many followers you have and how much engagement you are getting, the continued existence of the platform is out of your control and all that can be lost overnight. Be sure to have other ways to reach your customers, and make sure you are continuously focusing efforts on converting those external audiences to email subscribers.
We’ll be sharing more top tips on marketing in the New Year, with Hatch graduate Catherine Erdly.
SEO
Ranking high with SEO can be an extremely beneficial marketing strategy, driving 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media.
This isn’t surprising when considering 68% of online experiences start with a search engine.
It can be difficult to rank high with SEO, especially in saturated fields, which is why staying ahead of the of the curb with SEO trends is extremely important.
These are a few trends you should be looking to implement or improve for SEO in 2023:
1. Mobile First Indexing
Most people now conduct their searches on their phones rather than on a computer, claiming nearly 60% of all website traffic.
To ensure you’re ranking high with mobile SEO, make sure your website and content is mobile user friendly, and use local tags (30% of all phone searches are related to location).
To learn more about Mobile First Indexing, see Mobile-First Indexing: What You Need to Know
2. Videos
You may know that video platforms like TikTok have become very popular as search engines, especially with Gen Z.
But did you know that other search engines like Google often prioritise videos in their search results?
Forrester recently found that videos are 53 times more likely to generate first-page rankings than other traditional SEO techniques, so integrating videos into your marketing strategy can give you a significant boost over your competitors.
3. Backlinks
Generally speaking, the more backlinks a page has, the more organic traffic it gets. Google states that backlinks are one of its top three ranking factors.
Of course, not all backlinks are equal. The more prominent the site, the higher the quality of the backlink.
To learn more about how to get more backlinks, see How to Get Backlinks: 15 Proven Tactics
To improve your SEO, make sure to do some research to see which keywords you should be using.
Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is an extremely useful tool for information on how many people search your keyword, how difficult it will be to rank with it, and to give you some other keyword ideas.
Instagram and TikTok
Social media platforms can be an amazing opportunity for marketers to connect with their audience, replacing traditional customer service channels for many.
To stay relevant and build a loyal community around your brand, go where your audience takes you.
Make sure to include social listening as part of your marketing strategy to make sure you are responding to your audience’s needs and wants.
There is a lot of crossover with what works on Instagram and TikTok.
Along with following your audience, make sure to follow what content creators and influencers in your niche are doing to stay on trend.
For 2023, these are the trends you should be looking out for:
1. Personality
The way in which consumers interact with brands has been changing in the past few years. People want to relate to people.
To build trust with your audience, it’s important for your brand to be authentic and to let your personality shine through.
Putting yourself out there and enjoying your content will allow your audience the opportunity to engage with you.
2. Reels
Although Mosseri has suggested that Instagram has rebalanced its prioritisation so that photo-based content will get more engagement in the new year, reels will still win the engagement race.
Along with reels, video memes will rise in popularity.
Set time aside for social listening to make sure you’re staying on top of trends, and don’t be afraid to experiment with new features on the app.
3. User-generated content
Instagram will introduce more monetrary incentives for content creators to remain on the platform.
Along with these incentives, we will see a rise in UGCs, with brands paying content creators to review their product or service.
To make the most of this strategy, engage with micro and nano influencers, as they are more likely to relate to your niche and will be favoured over mega influencers.
TikTok
1. Stitches and Duets
Stitches and Duets are among the most popular TikTok trends as they can increase brand awareness immensely.
These videos create an opportunity for the original creator to engage with your content, which can encourage massive exposure.
43% of engaged TikTok users have uploaded a Duet video so far, so if you haven’t made any yet, 2023 is the time to jump on this bandwagon.
2. Lives
The number of people going on live and watching live videos has doubled in the last year.
The potential expansion of co-hosting live to multiple co-hosts further indicates the rising popularity in this trend.
These lives are an amazing way to improve engagement and connect with your audience as you can practice social listening in real time and respond to questions pertaining your expertise.
3. Ads
With high engagement levels, TikTok ads can be a really good way to increase website traffic and generate more leads.
Make sure these ads are reaching your desired audience by promoting organic, unique content with good SEO that is relevant to your niche.
Use TikTok’s Creative Centre to find new trends by exploring trending hashtags, songs, creators and TikTok videos to ensure maximum reach.
For more tips for TikTok and social media, see Social Media: Benefits of TikTok for Small Businesses
Video
Video continues to dominate as the leading format of marketing content online.
YouTube, for example, reaches more 18 to 49 year olds in an average week than all TV networks combined.
Short-form videos and lives have also been the most effective formats on social media this year.
Wave.video talked with industry experts about trends to look out for next year, here are the ones we’ve cherry-picked for you:
1. Live videos are on the rise
“During 2023, video will continue to increase as a way for personal brands and businesses to connect with their audience. Whether a livestream or recorded, scene based software will become the most commonly used programs.”
Jim Fuhs, President at Fuhsion Marketing
2. Video response to searches
“TikTok is already adding new features to enhance TikTok Search. Longer search-friendly captions. More prominent search box. Location tagging. A ‘local’ feed for nearby search results. Brands and creators should expect to see more search engine related features and platform updates in 2023. As well as shopping and payment tools layered on top.
“TikTok SEO is going to be a big deal in 2023. Instagram, Snap, and others will likely follow a similar path.”
Matt Navarra, Social Media Consultant
“Since Google owns YouTube, it prioritizes video in search engine results, often putting YouTube results at the top or near the top. Integrating video can give you a significant boost in your reach compared to competitors who aren’t prioritizing video.”
Greg Jameson, President at Webstores LTD
3. LinkedIn video is on the rise
“As we head into 2023, video marketing trends that will increase are repurposing short-form video content like TikToks and Reels and posting them on LinkedIn.
“The best news is that LinkedIn is very clear they want to be a place of business opportunity and success and that means they support your content that includes external links in posts, profiles, and company pages they see it as a business advantage to support websites and news articles.”
Judi Fox, Founder of LinkedIn Business Accelerator
Email Marketing
Pathwire research has found that 84% of consumers check their emails at least once a day.
As data privacy becomes increasingly important, make sure to clean up your database to remove any emails you may have without consent, and reach out to non-engaged subscribers.
Find inspiration and insights with MailCharts to learn from your competitors.
These are a few email marketing strategies to implement in 2023:
1. Personalisation
80% of business leaders state that consumers spend more when their experience is personalised.
Despite this, the majority of consumers report that companies don’t live up to their expectations with regards to understanding their needs and expectations.
Personalise your readers’ experience by respond to their current needs and interests.
Make your readers curious about your email with a catchy subject line that includes words that invites action, and keep them hooked with simple, relevant, entertaining content.
Readers are also more likely to engage with an email from a person, rather than a business.
2. Omnichannel marketing
Align your messaging and branding across all your channels for a seamless user journey experience, and map out when email marketing is most effective.
To do this, segment your audience based on various criteria to personalise their user experience.
If you were a product based business, for example, you may segment your audience to the following:
- Recent purchasers
- Purchasers of certain product types
- Seasonal purchasers
- High-value purchasers
- Lapsed purchasers
- Newsletter subscribers
You would then identify when emails were most effective for these consumers, and automate emails by identifying channel-based triggers.
By identifying these patterns, you will be creating the ultimate personalised experience for your reader, which will ensure the highest impact.
3. Artificial Intelligence
AI can be a very useful tool for email marketing.
As seen with omnichannel marketing, automation processes can improve the personalised experience of the reader.
You can also use tools like writing assistant Rytr to speed up the writing process and create engaging content.
To learn more, see What are the best AI and marketing automation tools?
Podcasts
Unlike short form videos, podcasts have had a gradual rise in popularity.
Now, with over two million podcasts and more than 420 million podcast listeners, there’s no questioning using podcasts for your marketing strategy.
To ensure your success, make sure to do your research and pace yourself at the start.
Look out for these trends for podcasts in 2023:
1. The rise of niche podcasts
While mainstream podcasts and shows remain popular, niche podcasts are one the rise.
It’s becoming easier for niche content creators to generate engaging content on specific topics with the increased availability of podcast production tools.
Users tend to listen to podcasts pertaining to their interests, which is why targeting an audience with specific content is a good idea.
2. Subscription-based podcasts
More and more businesses are taking advantage of podcasts as a marketing tool to increase brand awareness and generate meaningful interaction with their users.
Related to niche podcasting, these businesses can deliver industry-specific insights and expertise, positioning themselves as thought leaders in their field.
With a subscription-based model, listeners will have access to esclusive content created by these thought leaders, driving a rush of listeners to subscribe for fear of missing out.
3. Increased ad spending
Podcast ad spending is predicted to double by 2024, growing to an over four billion dollar industry, indicating it to be an extremely effective ad medium.
With increases competition, marketers will be allocating more of their budget to podcast ads to grow their reach to their targeted audience.
For more podcast advice and tips, see Jason Caffrey: The Hatch Graduate Championing Podcast Equity.
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Sources:
- 7 Simple Steps to Grow Your Online Business
- 78 SEO Statistics for 2023
- Social Media Trends for 2023 – 10 Strategies to Use for Maximizing Your Social Media Success
- 10 Instagram Marketing Trends You Need to Know in 2023
- TikTok Trends That Marketers Should Be Aware of in 2023
- Top Video Marketing Trends to Jump On in 2023 [from 37 Industry Experts]
- 63 Content Marketing Statistics for 2023
- Email Marketing Tips & Examples for 2023
- Top 5 Podcasting Trends to Look Out for in 2023
- Graphics by Elena Kalinicheva
