How Content Is Evolving Across Digital Platforms

 

Content is evolving based on new tools, greater technology accessibility, and changing consumer demands. As we kick off 2023, it’s essential that creatives familiarize themselves with the future of content and learn how to incorporate these changes in the digital landscape to maximize wins.

Expansion of mobile video

With 63% of people watching videos on their mobile devices, mobile video is definitely on the rise. Whether it’s live videos or social media stories, there are more ways than ever for your brand to connect with your audience. Keep these attention-grabbing mobile video trends on your radar: 

1. Short-form video: Today’s viewers, particularly younger ones, want short videos. Be it TikToks, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts, there are multiple platforms you can leverage where short-form videos reign supreme. 
2. Vertical video: Mobile users are all about convenience. They prefer watching vertical videos over horizontal ones so they don’t need to rotate their phones. Be sure to make your videos vertical to improve view-ability. 
3. Captions: Frequently, mobile videos are watched without sound. However, research shows that 41% of videos are incomprehensible without sound or captions. Ensure that you add captions to your videos so everyone can enjoy them.
4. Brand building: Video is so effective as a means for communicating brand values that viewers retain 95% of a message presented to them in a video compared to 10% when reading text. For bonus points, you can create a short, captioned video that encapsulates your brand’s story. 
5. Brand challenges: Brands can go viral with challenges. Just look at PhotoSi, a company that turns customers’ photos into keepsakes, and their challenge #ReviveconPhotoSi. TikTok users were challenged to recreate a picture from their childhood and share it, resulting in over 1 billion video views and 12 million users reached.
   According to a HubSpot survey, 20% of marketers leveraged branded challenges and 42% said they performed better than expected. Whether it’s a hashtag people can use or audio to incorporate in a video, creating your brand challenge can engage your audience and potential customers. 
6. Behind-the-scenes videos: Viewers feel more connected to brands that show the people behind them. Celebrate the people who make your brand great and share a sneak peek into their day with behind-the-scenes videos. 
7. Go live: Live streams are growing in popularity. On Facebook, for instance, live videos get six times as many interactions as regular videos. And 80% of users would rather watch live video than read a brand’s blog, and 82% choose live video over social posts. Live videos provide more authentic interaction with audiences while creating content that can be viewed or repurposed later. 

Social audio to grow

There are more ways than ever to connect with your audience and social audio is emerging as a strong contender. With social audio, users tune in to listen to interesting people and topics. 

Social media is gearing up to capitalize on audio’s increasing popularity. Facebook has Soundbites, Spotify offers Spotify Greenroom, LinkedIn has Audio Events, and Twitter offers Twitter Spaces for members with over 600 followers. In the near future, social audio will be used more widely for audio meetings, event broadcasts, and voice communications. 

Social audio is a compelling trend for marketers to jump onto. In addition to there being limited competition, social audio gives you the chance to have nuanced and engaging conversations with your audience. Furthermore, by sharing your expertise, you can also increase your brand’s credibility. 

More AR and VR experiences 

Step into the not-so-distant future with AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) technology. With the convenience of their smartphones, or technology like Meta Quest 2, people can digitally interact with your brand through immersive experiences before they shop.

Experts predict that the AR and VR market size will reach $454.73 billion USD by 2030. Major factors driving the growth of AR and VR are the booming gaming industry in addition to the increased usage of these tools in retail, healthcare, entertainment, and education. 

With AR you can bring your products to life, such as creating photo filters for makeup shades that customers can try on their phones or in-store. In addition, with VR, users can walk around virtual car showrooms, for instance, explore, and even test-drive car models. 

Factors like development costs and maintaining the technology can make creating AR and VR experiences feel daunting. However, 61% of shoppers say they prefer to shop with retailers that offer virtual experiences, making AR and VR experiences a compelling option for cutting-edge content teams. 

Rise of user-generated content (UGC)

Spanning anything from social media posts, unboxing videos, or product try-ons, UGC is content that can be created by anyone. This content is being increasingly adopted by major brands because it’s budget-friendly, scalable, and provides great ROI. In fact, 40% of surveyed marketers rank it as a high ROI format on social media. With UGC you can directly reach customers, build brand recognition, and help create content that can be repurposed. 

Take a look at Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign, where coke cans and bottles had names printed on them with whom they should be shared. The beverages also had the hashtag #ShareACoke printed on them to encourage people to share bottles with their names on social media. In six months, there were 76,000 Coke beverages shared on social media and an 870% increase in the brand’s Facebook traffic. In this USG-based campaign, Coca-Cola received authentic content across its social networks while letting users creatively engage with their brand. 

Bringing it all together 

These are a few of the major ways we’re seeing content evolve. Marketers need to leverage these content changes across a variety of digital platforms to stay competitive. With market uncertainty making content teams tighter, marketers can execute these trends and meet their goals by prioritizing their content objectives. 

Marketing teams need to decide what platforms they want to invest their resources in and prioritize creating content for them. Whether it’s a branded TikTok challenge, audio hangout, or product-focused AR experience, marketers can meet their target audience where they’re spending their time while keeping on top of the latest digital content evolutions. 

Written by Kathryn Haro, Intermediate Content Specialist at Brainrider