The two macro trends impacting corporates and how they communicate through digital channels are twofold.
Trust – the biggest communications and ethical challenge of our time. The Edelman Trust Barometer, just out, builds on the themes of last year. Business is astonishingly now the ONLY trusted institution. Government, media and even NGOs are ‘neutral’ People are increasingly looking for Business to fill the void left by the lack of trust in any other institution.
Immediacy – the pace of change, the pace of technology advancement continues at a relentless pace – at home, at work, in communications channels. New technologies, the demand for information at fingertips, the lack of attention span and readership are placing every greater pressure on corporate communicators.
These two trends, in my view, are the critical underlying factors in digital for 2023.
We will continue to see investment in companies leading with their purpose – why they are in business and the contribution they deliver to each of their stakeholder groups. 84% of the FTSE for example have a clear statement of purpose today with 52% furnishing additional content and materials to bring this purpose to life. We will see this extended through dedicated content, news, insights and features that reinforce purpose and the unique point of difference this creates.
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Even greater emphasis will be placed on telling the stories of outcomes. Case studies, stories and impacts will be brought to life to evidence that real change is being delivered – negating greenwashing, and making it real for their audiences. This in turn will create pressures for the creation and publication of enriching content.
Everything marketers have been doing for the past decade has been reliant on cookies. Now the tables are turned. Look at the stats…..85% of Apple’s world-wide iPhone users opting out of App tracking, 59% of consumers are more protective of their personal data; 183 countries have introduced data protection and privacy laws – and we see a continued rise in regulation and legal actions. All of this is fundamentally driven by a lack of trust and drives companies to have direct relationships with their audiences. 2023 will see even greater focus on regulation and organisations building direct relationships with their stakeholders.
Every day we see technological innovations hitting the headlines. Since COVID there has been a relentless pace of change, with the direct consequence that readership and attention spans have shrunk (8 seconds for social media anyone?!) and that everyone expects to access everything instantly, everywhere.
As well as the decline in attention spans, speed of your website and the loading of the page content is critical for Search Engines. Google continues to use speed as a ranking factor – so companies will increasingly need to invest in ensuring content is delivered quickly.
27% of the global online population is now using voice search on mobile (Global Web Index). 70% use voice search because it is fast, and 90% think voice search is easier than searching online. So voice search will only accelerate, and businesses will have to adapt their SEO content accordingly.
Already a key trend over the past year, this is set to continue as users look for more relevant content delivered more quickly. The availability of improved technologies and data will help accelerate this trend – across all touchpoints of web email, messaging and of course Apps. Perhaps counter-intuitively this trend may also be driven by the lockdown of data and cookies. Users will give greater 1st party consent to brands they are engaged with, and brands will work harder to deliver.
2023 will continue to see the rise in Superapps – as users want more personalised content and fewer apps to engage with, Superapps will fill the need. A superapp is just like a Swiss army knife with many tools that serve a purpose; except new tools (mini-apps) can be used and removed as the user needs. It runs on a platform that provides numerous, commonly used app services, such as messaging and payment, and Superapp users can create personalised user experiences (UXs) by selecting and installing their chosen mini-apps. This article by Gartner tells more.
….looking further ahead, no mention of trends would be complete without referencing the metaverse, AR and VR. Experts predict that the metaverse will add $5 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and 2023 will be the year that defines the metaverse for the next decade.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology will continue to advance. One area to watch is the work environment in the metaverse — in 2023. Microsoft and Nvidia are already developing metaverse platforms for collaborating on digital projects.
Organisations are already using metaverse technology like AR and VR to run training and onboarding of staff. As examples of this, Accenture has created a metaverse environment called the Nth Floor. This virtual world features replicas of real-world Accenture offices, so new hires and current employees can be onboarded without even being in the office.
Other useful trend reports:
Adobe 2022 Digital Trends Report
McKinsey Technology Council
Forbes AI trends for 2023
Black Sun is a global group of strategic advisors, consultants and stakeholder engagement specialists. We believe that brands and businesses can have a big impact on our society – they can shape more ethical practices, build more inclusive communities and deliver more sustainable performance. Ultimately, they can spark positive change in the world.
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