Rapid change across digital and in real life platforms shape how we communicate and find the services we want – and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Here are three trends to know this year and guidance on how to adapt them to your planning.
1. Social media – the rise of employee-generated content and increased importance on customer content (more so than influencers).
Employee advocacy and brand ambassadors are important, and I am sure we will hear more from their unique perspectives in 2025.
I know many organisations are nervous about this trend, but it has always been the ultimate goal to have your employees build relationships and positively promote their workplace – it is now just happening in a digital landscape. We will see many more videos of employees in the office, holding a rode mic talking about what they did today – and this is good for business.
According to Forbes, “94 per cent of consumers would be more loyal to brands that practice transparency, while 56 per cent claim that brand transparency would make them ‘loyal for life’.”
Employee-generated content, executed correctly, can become a powerful tool for connecting with your ideal customer, growing your brand presence and attracting more high-quality candidates to the workplace.
The same is true for customer-generated content. The modern-day version of a testimonial and word of mouth, a happy customer posting a video about how much they have enjoyed your product or service, is gold. It is much more valuable than paying an influencer, even if said customer has under 1,000 followers.
Lastly, for social media, video is here to stay. Short-form like YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok are the most popular. Short, clever videos are easy to create and can reach a large audience. Brands should brainstorm to create a style of fun and shareable content, leaning into trends when appropriate.
2. AI – we now know how to work with it and are not fooled (mostly).
AI has been the biggest conversation in most industries; the impact is unprecedented and lightspeed. We all use it even if we don’t realise it.
AI in marketing is easily a standalone article (which I could ask it to write itself). With brands like Nike creating ads using 100% AI, not even real actors, which are turning heads (like this one), it is hard not to get excited and a bit freaked out simultaneously.
Fakes or AI-generated content are getting harder to spot and becoming completely acceptable – half those cute monkey bath videos are probably AI, but I still smile at them. In saying that, most of us can spot ChatGPT content a mile off. No one’s punctuation and use of colons are that good. The sentences sound like a machine, not a human. I prefer to engage with human content, and I am sure I am not the only one.
Learning to embrace AI and using it as you would any tool in the kit bag will become normal if it isn’t already. The organisation’s challenge is data sovereignty, safeguarding customer and employee information and transparency. Chatbots should announce that they are not human. Companies need to understand where data is stored, and it needs to be safeguarded.
3. Voice search – Siri, Alexa and Google walked into a bar…
There is a rapid uptake of voice-activated devices like iPhones and smart speakers, and we are integrating them into our everyday lives.
According to Statista “In Australia and Oceania, the Speech Recognition Market of the Computer Vision Market within the Artificial Intelligence Market is experiencing a surge in demand for voice-enabled virtual assistants and chatbots. This trend is driven by the increasing adoption of smart home devices and the need for more efficient and personalized customer service in industries such as healthcare and banking. As the technology continues to advance, there is potential for further integration of speech recognition in everyday devices and applications.”
This is a great opportunity.
Voice commands usually differ from written search terms. For example, you might type into Google ‘best bars in Sydney’ and be presented with a list, whereas a voice command would be “What are the best bars near me?” – the same question (if you live in Sydney), but different.
To take advantage of this rapidly growing audience, organisations should use longtail search terms and natural language in their dialogue to work with voice search. By this, don’t just use ‘shoes’ in your copy (if you sell shoes). Use longer, more specific phrases like “What are the best shoes for running?”.
There are a lot of programs that can help you identify longtail search terms for your organisation. We use Google Ads keyword planner tool, which is free when creating client articles and content.
Last piece of advice
Despite all of these rapid advancements – which are just tools, the core of your message and focus should remain the same: build a trustworthy and authentic voice. The same rules apply: engage with your community, highlight what makes you unique, what problem you solve, and what service you offer. Above all, treat your audience with respect.
Amanda Lacey is the Founder and Director of Popcom.