Marketers looking at their campaign plans for 2023 will need to look not only at their plans but the plans of the platforms they expect to use. If there is a great trend coming or a feature that might help your marketing campaign, you’ll want to take advantage of it as soon as possible. So, what are the platforms doing? We explore here.
What’s in Twitter’s future? No one can really answer that. We can take Elon Musk at his word or we can keep guessing. Either way, you’ll find the details of his “roadmap” in another of our insight posts here.
Zuckerberg has surprisingly a lot of ideas he wants to implement in 2023, for a CEO that just fired 11,000 employees and cancelled a lot of projects in favour of the Metaverse. And yes, the Metaverse is clearly at the front of his radar. It’s being called the new age space race: whoever gets to virtual reality first will be quids in.
But what else does he have in store for Facebook users? Well, a lot more AI. It appears the algorithm is going to be more involved with what they show you, rather than getting only friends and family on your feed. Which is an interesting move considering there was a celebrity-endorsed protest that hit the headlines asking for exactly the opposite on Instagram. Hmm.
As a side effect of the Metaverse, there is also going to be a push for avatar integration. You’re going to see the Mii knock-offs in more areas of the app as a form of digital identity.
What might interest marketers is the Click to Message ads, which means users that click on your ads will be directly taken to your business Messenger or Instagram account for a conversation. This could be useful for engagement in the future.
Speaking of Instagram, there is also a push for algorithm-recommended content, and more Reels. Which, again, goes against the protest but whatever. They’ve got other ideas, like “next-level integrations”. These, again, feed into the idea of the Metaverse. Posts are soon to have AR and 3D integration to make content for the virtual network. But there is also going to be another push to try to integrate live shopping again. The western audiences didn’t go for it the first time, but if at first, you don’t succeed… Besides, TikTok is having a good time with the concept. It is taking off in eastern countries and acts something like an influencer-led shopping channel, where influencers go on live stream and show off their items, and if the feature is there, tag the products.
TikTok
Like Twitter, TikTok as a platform has a questionable future. The site has its controversies, like any other, but few others can say they have such a strong link to the Chinese government and might be shut down by the US or EU. The issue is so dire that there is even talk that TikTok is considering a complete separation from the Chinese government. The pressure for this is likely to ramp up over 2023.
Putting that aside and continuing through 2023 as though that massive sword isn’t hanging over their head, TikTok has expressed interest in a number of advancements, including live shopping features and Shops. There is already something akin to that happening. A lot of content now features an influencer pointing to their “basket” as though that counts as anything. Brands should remind affiliates to put at least some effort into their shoutouts. Aside from lazy content, it is a good opportunity for affiliate marketers to get more products out there. Give the pitch, the perks, and the product all in the one 30-second video.
Affiliates, on the other hand, might be a lot more interested to hear that TikTok is exploring creator payments. Finally. The Creator Fund is one pot, so as more people take from it, they have to take smaller amounts. But TikTok is supposedly trying out new payment models, with a focus on its top stars. This will no doubt be prompted by YouTube launching a new short-form video monetization option, and needing to outdo the competition, but whatever gets creators paid sufficiently.
And for the B2B companies in 2023, there is LinkedIn. Linkedin is looking at more/better data insights to help guide job seekers. It’s mainly chugging on with its mission statement of making LinkedIn the place to find jobs and will continue to make a lot of small moves to make this a reality.
And since business as a concept has come to rely on video calling, LinkedIn wants a bite of that sandwich. They are adding more and more video tools, no doubt making a link between team members or job seekers and employers a lot easier.
If you are interested in more affiliate and social media marketing insights, take a look at our blog for all the latest news and advice. Or for a more personalised approach, book a free call with a member of our team.
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