What Content Marketers Can Expect in 2024
Productsup is a P2C (product-to-consumer) platform that processes the flow of content about more than two trillion items a month across upwards of 2,500 marketing and retail channels for enterprise customers around the world, including IKEA, ALDI, and Sephora.
Its goal is to help companies overcome commerce complexity to deliver consistent product information and a better customer experience across all channels, including localized campaigns at scale.
For example, Productsup can run localized Instagram ad campaigns to support the launch of pop-up stores in target cities for an ecommerce brand that wants a temporary brick-and-mortar presence. The brand can use the Productsup platform to manage consumer and product data and ad targeting for each market.
Katie Moro, Global Head of Managed Service and Regional Manager of Solutions in Americas and ANZ at Productsup, sat down with StreetFight for a glimpse of what she foresees in this space in 2024, regarding video content, ephemeral content, integrating shopping and social media, hyper-personalization, and other relevant topics.
How will video content dominate even more than it does now?
While video content is already established as a key tool when targeting consumers, it’s now gaining traction in the B2B space. Videos have long been seen as supplementary for B2B marketing campaigns, sitting low on the priority list compared to whitepapers, blog posts, etc. However, teaser and explainer videos are quickly proving their value among business buyers. We’ll see B2B marketers allocate more marketing dollars to promote video content as part of campaigns, using it as a first touchpoint in the customer journey.
How will ephemeral content evolve in 2024?
Ephemeral content is media that is only accessible temporarily (usually 24 hours) before it disappears forever. Examples of ephemeral content are when users post “stories” on platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram. The enticement of this format is that content disappears after 24 hours, leading audiences to want to engage sooner in order to not miss out, resulting in higher engagement. Creators will become even more creative with how they leverage ephemeral content next year.
How will integration of shopping and social media for omnichannel branding differ in 2024?
Brands can set up shopping profiles on their business social-media accounts and create ads that offer native checkout. This approach makes shopping much more seamless and personalized. Instead of clicking through a million links, clicking on the ad shown in your feed will either take you directly to the company’s website or let you buy directly on the social platform. This use of social commerce will likely remain steady in 2024, and with further AI advancements, offer even more personalized product recommendations and ads. To ensure a seamless shopping experience, brands need to connect this approach to an omnichannel strategy so users can pick up where they left off in their transaction, no matter where they are – social media, a mobile app, or even in a physical store.
How much more personal can ads get from what they are now?
With the adoption of generative AI, hyper-personalization really will take shape in 2024. Manually adapting product content for individual markets, audiences, and channels is unrealistic for most companies because it requires extensive time and resources. With AI, companies can manipulate product information in seconds and at scale. Companies can ask ChatGPT to describe a product to someone who is 13, 45, and 65 years old and then implement that messaging within their marketing material to ensure all demographics are receiving content most relevant to them.
What can expect from micro and nano influencers?
A micro-influencer is an individual who has a smaller but highly engaged and niche audience in a particular industry or interest area. Unlike macro-influencers, who are celebrities with massive follower counts, micro-influencers typically have a more modest following, often ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of followers. A nano influencer also has a small but highly engaged and authentic following on social media with follower counts in the range of a few hundred to a few thousand.
A recent report found that 39% of brands lean towards partnering with nano-influencers, those with 1K-10K followers, while 30% favor micro-influencers, with a follower count between 10K-100K. The reason: consumers demand authenticity. Their followers are genuinely interested in what the influencer shares. Micro and nano influencers give their followers relatability that they wouldn’t find with a macro-influencer such a celebrity. For brands micro and nano influencers tend to be more cost-effective than a typical macro influencer who can charge hefty sums of money.
Will some social media be automated?
I foresee businesses utilizing social media marketing automation to improve consistency and frequency with posts and engagement, time efficiency, optimal posting times, data collection, analysis, and cross-platform coordination. For instance, companies can automate the process of exporting their product feeds to social-media platforms, bringing their advertising campaigns live faster and making it easier to update product information in real time.
You predict that user-generated content will increase. In which sectors and platforms and why?
User-generated content is rising in the enterprise sector because of social media and texting platforms, where people can easily become content creators on their mobile devices, propelling the expansion of the enterprise segment. Brands can now easily share user-generated content on their websites, social, and other marketing channels due to platforms like Instagram and Facebook becoming widely popular for user-generated content.
Gen Z wants to shop in their social media worlds using the credentials they already have on file with Meta, Google or Apple. Will an all-in-one platform emerge to “omni-connect” them?
I don’t know if an all-in-one platform will emerge. We are seeing more partnerships form to streamline the shopping experience, such as Amazon and Meta teaming up to provide shoppers with easier access to Amazon products through Facebook and Instagram. Through these channels companies can enable consumers to be more omni-connected.
