As our audiences are getting more and more experienced in the field of video we have come to expect more and more visual representation of who and what businesses do. I can see the figures going up year on year where a wider age range of people are starting to use video platforms for research, sales or simply for awareness building. Now these traditionally young people platforms are going to start being used by the older set and I think to large part, quite successfully, so lets see what happens.
I think Twitter will still be here in 2023 of course, but I do think its lost a lot of confidence from advertisers. I have always found it as an excellent comms tool from me to other business owners as well as customers and for that reason I think it still has its place on the marketing side of things. It's still nice to see your business trend as well of course too.
A lot of these other Twitter like (BlueSky, Mastadon) tools are using decentralised platforms at the moment and I can't fathom how they are remotely handy, it brings me back to my MySpace and MSN days with its clunkiness. I hope they work on improving the user experience on these platforms. I believe once they do, these platforms will be ones to watch in the future.
With the cost of living crisis as it stands right now, we're all looking to save a few bob here and there. I have seen all sorts of price saving tools and downloads coming out at the moment. I certainly believe every business out there will be shopping around a lot more in 2023 before renewing anything. Website hosts, social media management platforms, right down to where you get your cars fixed. So maybe spend some time jotting down what you spent over the last couple of years on each of these and see if you can find a way to save this year?
I think more and more businesses are becoming more cognisant of the time they spend on doing things now. The days of scrolling and meeting people randomly for a drink at lunchtime are well and good behind us. These days we're much better at managing our accountability better and certainly over the last year I have heard more business owners talking about how to make each minute count more.
To this end, I think we're going to see more downloads of tools like Toggl and Clockify. It takes a regimented person to do it but it does make all the time you DO spend on work much more profitable and helps you better understand where you're losing time and money. (Thanks to Amanda Webb!)
Here in Ireland we have the Irish Blogger Agency that helps brands meet micro influencers. I have seen this particular sector grow and grow over the last few years and its becoming quite noticeable, certainly to me, how much time and money is being spent with these influencers.
If you have an engaged audience - you may find this a very profitable income stream for your business in 2023.
Now this is more I hope for, rather than a prediction. I would love if every person who read this would please remember, as much as possible to support local small business owners.
Every business wants to make a success of themselves but right now its the larger businesses that are staying strong and smaller ones that are sadly closing. If you could please try to support the smaller businesses. They have bills and mortgages to pay like all of us but as self employed people they tend to get less support from the state. So when you shop around, please reach out to them, our small business owners are the backbone to our local and national economy, so please shop local.
A lot of things have progressed in AI in the last 12 months. It's being used much more by a whole lot more people and accessibility is being refined and it's being made easier to understand as well. You'll see more Virtual and Augmented Reality become more common place in medium to large brands over the next year as they "try" to adopt the Metaverse platform.
The Metaverse is still with us, but only just. It's been a bit of a flop thus far and really only the brands have been heading into. Which isn't a lot of use without the old viewers and buyers. Let's see what happens over the next year.
As a part of this I think Headsets will be made as gifts and prizes as it gains more acceptance globally and the prices go down.
The price went down some 10%, so its not great but it did go down a tad.
I believe a lot of the Innovation Hubs for technology-based business that sprung up during the Lockdowns and were there to support businesses through them may return in 2022 as well. The success of these haven't been as well documented as other things but I think these wee little "think-tanks" and start up accelerators really helped the economy bounce back much faster than many people thought would be possible. The resources there and the funding really kept the wheels turning - so I do hope they come back.
I did see some of these return and they certainly did some good but towards the end of the year there appeared to be less funding. Lets hope that returns in 2023.
One thing I have noticed over the last year is there are more and more roles online that are seeking "Creators". This seems to be new role that Brands and larger businesses are looking for. I think this will yet breakthrough to the SME's here in Ireland. This means the demand on knowledge for a greater raft of ability and experience will be out there. I do think this will mean that there maybe more disparity over the next couple of years in this skillset and it's an area that needs to worked on more by every size and shape of business.
I still really see only micro influencers doing this role for brands today. Its quite a leap for people to accomplish. The role requires a lot of commitment, ability and freedom. I will admit though I have seen less roles like this promoted online over the last year. Maybe its just too hard to fill - or I've missed them perhaps?
With the push that the Trading Online Voucher has been doing since the first Lockdown here in Ireland to encourage business owners to put their business online, it was a very valuable source of help to existing businesses. However, for those that didn't immediately qualify for the 90% help last year - they potentially could be some of the businesses failing in the coming months as they don't qualify for as much support. These fledgling innovators are up against the wall and unless they can find ways that are affordable to build their business through and beyond COVID we shall see more of these businesses close. I encourage everyone reading this to support local, new businesses to prevent this haemorrhage of jobs and skill.
One of the most obvious changes I saw in the last year was business owners learning how to create videos at home or at least at their own business locations. As vital and experienced a videographer is, these business owners had to learn how to create, script, edit and more in order to continually reach their audience through the medium of video.
In fact it has been much easier and some what cheaper to purchase green screens, microphones, ring lights, camera's and a whole host of things to be capable of doing this from our own locations and these new "Creators" from above will be very capable of doing this. I can see more and more businesses utilising these tools and build these skills in 2022.
Every year I try to think of a word that may represent the year ahead and then add a word that signified that year for me and those around me. Check out below:
2020
January "Highly Anticipated" - December 2020 "COVID 19"
2021
January "Pivot" - December 2021 "Tested"
2022
January "Sustainability" - December "Challenged"
2023
January "Hold Tight" - December ?
I'd love to know what your words were for each year and what's coming up. Please keep it clean!
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
