PR and communications is an ever-changing industry, and during 2021, we saw just how rapidly it can evolve. As always, when closing chapters, it’s valuable to look back and learn in order to be proactive.
Keeping up with changes isn’t always easy, but in a fast-paced market, it’s vital in order to succeed. Staying on top of trends enables you to remain relevant and on-target with what your consumers want and expect from you.
This blog post will cover three main trends that summarize the past year. According to marketing surveys and interviews with global top marketers, these trends will most likely continue into 2022 as well, making them extra important to be aware of.
1. The desire for strong stories and authentic brands
2021, like the year before, was characterized by unprecedented change regarding the pandemic, climate, and politics. Consequently, the unpredictability of the world around us has turned audiences’ emotional needs into guiding stars for PR and marketing people. Communication and messages have become more focused on comfort, compassion, contribution, gratitude, and humor – which is what people needed to handle the chaotic world around them and endure the bizarre reality in lockdown.
This shift in the market has made social responsibility, ethics, and transparency into main demands for the modern consumer. The interest in buying products from socially responsible brands increased in 2021. Now, more than ever, people don’t just want enticing messaging about brand values, they want to see an impact, and they want companies to take a stand on issues that matter to them. Outbound marketing tactics, or push tactics became even less effective in reaching prospects and leads. Instead, the focus was to meet the customers at their demands, which put storytelling in the spotlight as a tactic. Storytelling has always been an important part of brand building and 2021, in particular, made it clear that people want to invest in brands that make a difference and tell a real story.
Consequently, in 2021, we saw an increased interest amongst companies to focus on inclusion and charitable initiatives in their content plans and social media strategies. Although this might not benefit sales immediately, taking social responsibility has proven to be an effective tactic in marketing, and this year was no exception.
2. Virtual events
During the past year, we’ve seen an explosion of virtual events as marketers adapted to the new digital needs. Virtual events are not a fast passing trend and we will continue to see more hybrid marketing strategies in the future that include both virtual events, as well as physical ones.
At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a huge spike in registrations and attendance at virtual events, and online events attracted audiences that previously did not have the possibility to attend. The shift from physical to virtual events has, however, not always been successful, as many virtual events continued to mimic physical events. The nowadays well-established term ‘Zoom fatigue’ has forced, and will continue to force marketing teams to be innovative in the ways virtual events are hosted and marketed. The main focus for many organizations in 2021 was, therefore: how can we stand out in this overcrowded market? The answers turned out to be: engagement and professionalism.
Engagement
As previously established in this blog post, emotion and connection were vital in order to engage audiences in 2021. Perhaps a natural result of being in lockdown; people were looking for more human interactions. Online communities were one outcome of this, meaning to engage the audience before, during, and after an event. People were interested in interactivity; discussions and panels in which they could ask questions, offer their own expertise, and be part of the action.
Professionalism
We’ve all attended (or hosted) some sort of meeting, event, or webinar where the host (or ourselves…) presented a PowerPoint with no microphone, sitting at home with a background of someone’s kitchen. This was fine the first shocking weeks of the pandemic in 2020, but in 2021 the demands were much higher on equipment, graphics, directors, professional hosts, and backgrounds.
3. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing definitely went from an intriguing trend to a commonly-used tactic for many marketers in 2021. Influencer marketing was and continues to be a great way to fill in gaps; gaps in knowledge and gaps in audiences that your current organization does not have the experience or resources to fill.
Influencers are experts in the field or topic they talk about and know the platforms they use very well. Also, they already have an engaged and interested crowd of followers that fits your target audience. It’s a simple way to gain awareness and trust.
The previous fascination for celebrities continued to decrease in 2021 and made space for influencers instead. Recent years have shown a greater interest in everyday people, unlike celebrities who are rather considered unattainable. Further, the lockdown forced influencers indoors, turning them into ‘homefluencers’, which made them even more relatable.
The interest in micro-influencers also grew in 2021. Micro-influencers are accounts with a smaller amount of followers, around 10 000-50 000, compared to macro-influencers who have around 500 000- 1 million followers. Although micro-influencers have fewer followers, their posts often have a higher level of engagement, and their followers are therefore considered more likely to trust the opinions and recommendations of the person they’re following.
Summary
What can be told about the past year is that many brands and companies have moved away from mass-marketing and overselling, and turned towards more meaningful relations and taking their stance on issues that matter to their customers. This is a natural development of the more mindful and conscious consumption and lifestyle of today.
Regardless of whether you have set your content plan for 2022 yet or not, keeping the trends of 2021 in mind will guide you in your content creation and the content choices you make during the coming year.
If you have not finished your content plan for next year, or need inspiration, download our 2022 Annual Content Plan!
