What awaits us in 2024? – A look into the crystal ball, paired with a wish
As the saying goes, one should stick with cherished traditions. A look into the crystal ball with Daniel Rehn, Senior Social Strategist at Achtung! and Digital Trend Scout, is one such tradition. For 2024, he sees both an obvious as well as a consistent continuation of ongoing developments that involve a struggle for trust and naturalness – paired with a wish.
Daniel, your obligatory look into the crystal ball has been part of our regular programme for a couple of years now. What communication trends do you have in store for us in 2024?
I’m definitely with Max when he says that trust will experience a renaissance as a basic value. But I would go a bit further and say that trust is the result of good communication in itself.
A pioneer of PR in Germany, Carl Hundhausen once stated that public relations is about gaining trust among the public. Looking at the various facets and the compartmentalisation of audiences and platforms today, I would slightly reword this and say that communication nowadays is about gaining trust among individual public audiences.
But that isn’t a trend.
Right. Which is why I would like to call out good communication as a trend. Communication that is consistent in times like these, that provides orientation, creates transparency and institutes trust.
So you mean less colourful advertising and more “grey-toned” communication that forms a foundation?
Not necessarily. Advertising geared towards target groups, in all its glory, can of course continue. But then with the goal of wanting to tell people something or explain something that is worth talking about – or at least packed in an attractive or interesting way.
To me, advertising is also about putting the effort into what’s being said, instead of just being loud or throwing a lot of money at a dull message to gain reach.
And the “grey tones”?
I like the metaphor and am happy to adopt it.
So, the grey tones …
Good brand and corporate communications can do more than just the black or white. Putting things in a context, structuring the content and delivering it transparently … those are in essence nearly journalist-like tasks, but help to communication the “licence to operate” and make one’s own actions tangible. Only this communication can also be subjective and based on a clear agenda, values and mindset.
And taking a stance on issues relevant to society and also showing this will remain important. This goes just as much for the companies as the ones delivering the communication as it does for the actively present heads from the Board with their LinkedIn pages, and corporate influencers who identify with the employer’s values and/or can take a critical look at them.
What would this look like in terms of trends? What do we have to be prepared for?
I’ll name the top three for trustworthy communication that come to mind first at the moment, so that we can have an exciting talk about them:
Never wears out and still relevant: the credible integration of influencers and creators in campaigns and beyond, with the aim to have a recognisable face for brands and companies, one that builds or lends credibility. Unlike testimonials, which are only bought for their personality, the partner’s community in this instance is addressed and integrated much more strongly.
An example of this: the campaign from Philips Hue with streamer EliasN97, whose gaming room got an upgrade. The most important take-away here: you don’t just pick out creators and influencers anymore with the biggest follower numbers, but the right community as a target group and the right match in terms of content quality and engagement.
Also still in the spotlight: building up your own people as trust ambassadors. Corporate influencers, the social C level and everyone in between who can be visible and match in terms of content will also be part of the communication ensemble in 2024. Sometimes more, sometimes less guided. But always sticking closely to their key topics in order to remain credible.
In the images for social media, we see a further shift away from high-gloss motifs to show more “rough edges”. A natural style, based on UGC, makes for a more down-to-earth appearance. As a result, some brands put all their activities into the hands of UGC creators. From the “clean-licked” marketing point of view, this is of course a nightmare, but it makes sense since the last spark of genuineness in social media frequently still comes from the smaller creators who don’t sit in a fully equipped studio.
To be accepted by the audience, the adage goes: “Speak honestly, look genuine.”
And what about AI? You can’t give us trends without AI! 😉
Of course not. To pick up where I left about the shift away from high-gloss motifs – we will also see the extremely opposite: the playful (and please, honest) use of generative AI for fantastic pictures, as well as for supporting the generation of content and similar, will “be permitted”. AI makes it possible to create striking scenes which give a “wow!” effect in the feed. Like the use of fake OOH, which we’re seeing more and more frequently, for digital stunts that are just as fantastic.
Whether this will be enough for an “Industrial Revolution” of social media via AI in 2024 remains yet to be seen, but the potential is given.
Are there any platform tips you can give us?
TikTok and LinkedIn will remain the top drivers in their respective fields.
If Instagram finds its focus again and/or gets threads started in Europe, then it can be exciting again – while Snapchat hopefully gets out from its “under the radar” status.
YouTube, Twitch and Discord are creating new opportunities, but have to also (finally) be understood and used accordingly as community-centric platforms. Or this, too, gets outsourced again to creators and influencers as partners.
And WhatsApp channels can also become interesting as massive “dark traffic” deliverers, if understood and used correctly.
And X?
Yeah, no. Bye-bye.