In reality, these digital behaviors have been brewing for a long time: I have been reading for at least 8 years that “video marketing” will be stronger the following year. The same thing happens with TikTok: I’ve been reading for at least 3 years that the next year will be TikTok-marketing. And no, those don’t seem like predictions to me, not by a long shot. It is just repeating the same thing that is being said throughout the industry.
To predict certain behaviors in the future, it is enough to use the behaviors of the past. Understanding this point well, we can know what the future holds for us in many aspects. For some years now, I have seen the advertising and marketing landscape and where it is moving towards, therefore, I join in making 3 theories [predicciones] that I truly believe will happen during 2023 in the world of digital marketing and advertising -and even in years to come-.
Google will no longer be the king of searches
For some time now, Google has been superseded as a search engine…at least by the younger generation. It is estimated that at least 40% of users under the age of 22 search directly on TikTok, not on Google. The reason is very simple: every time you google, company pages (?) or blogs (?) appear, but users creating content for users do not appear. In other words, the content they are looking for must be fresh and, above all, it must be indexed by the people themselves, who give a ranking based on popularity and interaction. Not by complex SEO mechanisms. In fact, Google is already indexing TikToks in search to counteract this effect. I don’t think the search engine will pass away in 2023, but we may be looking at the beginning of the end for the next few years.
The Metaverse will remain a dream
I honestly believe that Mark Zuckerberg may be a metaverse visionary. But I also believe that the world is not ready for the metaverse. On average, in the history of Humanity, it takes us approximately 20 years to adopt a new technology so that it becomes commonplace. This is what happened to the media and right now to the Internet. Now it is something necessary to live and work. Twenty years ago it was more of a luxury and few people knew exactly what it was and how it was used. The same goes for the metaverse. Very few people in the world know what it is, how it is eaten, how it is entered or what happens in general. Given this, the truth is that it is not seen in the panorama even of the next 5 or 10 years that there can be such an ambitious ecosystem, like the one that Mark claims. But that he is a visionary, he is, without a doubt.
Appear more real, less promotional
This is a trend that I generally see happening with brands in 2023 and beyond. It is not for nothing that a social network like BeReal is gaining so much strength in the digital world. It is not by chance that TikTok is the most influential social network of the moment: in both cases it is appealed to be “real”, not to “make ads, but TikToks”. In a world governed by advertising made by and for millennials, I think that the change in the banner and paradigm of advertising in general is beginning to be felt more strongly. And it all has to do with being more real, less promotional. Advertising less similar to TVC’s and more like TikToks, with greater personalization and more genuine. Therein lies the challenge for the creatives of the world.
Save this tweet, this column, these words to return to it in a few years and see if these predictions came true or not. But you will see that looking at the past is very useful to understand what will come in the future.
We read next week.