2022 – what a year! ????
Take a moment to pat yourself on the back and celebrate how you’ve evolved this year. Whether you’ve changed jobs, started a brand new career, worked on your #personalbranding and #contentmarketing, growth is growth! Let’s celebrate all the wins, learn from the mistakes and carve a strong path forward.
As your #Branding Ladyboss, this has been a huge year of growth for me. Some of my celebrations:
???? Completed my first full year as a business owner and entrepreneur at StandOut Authority with my husband Joshua B. Lee. We’ve partnered with some badass execs and business owners to define their personal brand, create incredible content, and draw new opportunities and engagement on LinkedIn that they never could have imagined. We also launched our $SOA Coin and Community on Discord, drawing in 1K people to our community and a famiLEE that we love!
???? Pursued a higher education career as a Guest Lecturer and Consultant at The University of Texas at Austin and made it happen! I not only support the Texas McCombs School of Business MBA and MS students in their career, I also educate classes on B2B Marketing and LinkedIn. AND I’m supporting the President’s office with brand and marketing strategy for largest strategic plan the university has ever done.
???? Embraced stepmotherhood and fertility. Not only did I deepen my relationships with my stepkids, Jayden and Skylar, I’ve been on a personal journey through IVF with many challenges. Skylar completed her first season of baseball thanks to my encouragement and Jayden started jujitsu 🙂 It’s a journey – to all my mamas out there, I love you.
As I reflect back on this year, I’m so proud to be part of the LinkedIn Creator Program and achieve 12K+ followers. This is 3X growth in about 1.5 years. I’ve done this by focusing on QUALITY CONTENT.
This past year has certainly been a journey of exciting content marketing strides so let’s take a look back at all that has changed in the world of content marketing and peek at what 2023 will throw our way.
2022: A Year of Remote Work and Fast-Paced Change
This year gave us a glimpse into just how fast the content marketing world can change. We’ve continued to cope with COVID across the world, adapt to a remote work and hybrid working model, and watch political and economic uncertainty. Additionally, we’re seeing tech companies lead the world and focus on consumer data protection and cybersecurity.
The Death of the Third-Party Cookie
One of the biggest changes that has affected nearly every online business comes from Google’s planned phase-out of third-party cookies, which is getting closer to becoming a reality. They extended it to 2023 and now extended again to 2024 (phew!). For years, many businesses have relied on third-party cookies to track website visitors, collect data, and improve the user experience. With no large-scale alternatives being proposed by Google, some businesses are left scrambling for solutions, while others have risen to the challenge to be innovative and find new ways to collect data directly from customers (i.e., first party intent data).
One thing is for sure if you are a business that has relied on third-party cookies, be sure to keep up to date with the evolution of this phase-out and consider alternatives for your business in 2023 and beyond.
Web3 Growth and More Uncertainty
This year saw some huge gains in Web3 development some of which included:
- A rise in the demand for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are now being more widely adopted by businesses, celebrities, and artists. NFTs provide ownership of a digital asset and have been described as the evolution of fine art collecting. We’re finally moving out of the phase of Bored Apes into real utility behind NFTs like Gary Vaynerchuk‘s VeeFriends. In this model Gary sells NFTs through digital artwork which can then be traded in for in person or online experiences. Since the release of series 1 tokens in 2021, the value of these NFTs has continued to rise. I’m excited to see how this expands into real estate, medicine, and other fields.
- An increase in the use of Move-to-Earn (M2E), a concept based on gaming models by which users “earn” by completing activities
- The continued development of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), which relies on governance tokens for votes and decision making.
- On the downside, we’ve seen the downfall of some major crypto companies like FTX, BlockFi, and Celcius that has brought more questions into why crypto and blockchain than certainty. The end of 2022 has been rough all around, but I’m still hopeful in what the technology will provide for all of us.
Videos, Reels, TikToks
This year also saw an abundance of innovative growth in the area of video content marketing, which seems to be evolving at a rate of its own. Many influencers have used platforms such as TikTok to grow their audience significantly (some even doing so overnight) by sharing trending content (e.g., dance routines, memes), teaching concepts, creating enjoyable clips, or endless loop videos.
Instagram has changed dramatically as well with more and more users opting for silent videos with captions, an increase in the number of collaborations between influencers, ad transparency, and behind-the-scenes shares. One big trend we’re also seeing is YouTube Shorts, which my kids can’t get enough of! People like MrBeast with 100M+ subscribers are changing what the creator economy means and how people engage with content and content creators.
LinkedIn Releasing New Features Regularly
And of course, this has also been a year with many #NewLinkedInFeatures:
LinkedIn Audio Event: I was one of the original beta testers for this feature, and let me just say that this tool makes a HUGE difference in how we’re able to connect with our community through content marketing. With audio events, you can have live conversations with your audience without having to be on video.
It’s a wonderful way to build relationships, foster connections, and build your network in a more fluid and on demand way. Definitely give this one a try if you haven’t yet.
Creator Analytics: Those that have creator mode turned on can use this feature to better understand how their content is performing with their audience. It’s a super helpful content marketing tool that every creator should be taking advantage of to see impressions, engagement, and audience information.
Clickable Links: This feature makes it simple to add a powerful CTA to up the engagement on your content. It has to be done on mobile but you can add links to profiles or wherever.
Now let’s take a sneak peak at what’s to come in 2023…
A Look Inside the World of Content Marketing for 2023
As content marketers and creators, 2023 is our year to take back control. We have 5 Exciting Content Marketing Trends for 2023 that we’re going to talk through tomorrow, December 7th 10amCST, in our FINAL LIVE event of 2022 BUT I’m previewing a few of them for you today.
1. Human Centered Video
Okay I know you’re probably like duh Rachel, we know video is important, look at YouTube?! But 2023 is really going to feel like video is an absolute necessity for your marketing efforts. In the past, I’ve said you don’t have to do video to be successful with your marketing, but I won’t say that for 2023. Whether you’re a creator forging your personal brand or a marketer trying to attract and retain your audience, video must be a regular part of your strategy whether it’s on social media, in webinars, email, whatever.
According to CMI’s just-released 2022
Storytelling Survey, 73% of marketers say
videos have become more important to their
business in the last year.
I think a big reason for this is that we’re in the Human Era and people really need to see and feel brands to have trust in them. While a blog or graphic can help build a relationship, nothing beats a video that shows real people and how to engage with your brand. Think about explainer videos, product demonstrations, and live events on platforms like BlueJeans by Verizon. People want to learn from you and have the ability to ask questions and interact with the community and live events are a great way to drive demand and brand.
2. Conversions and a Return on Investment
The days when social media platforms were simply forms of entertainment are gone. Today, many users are shifting towards using these platforms as primary search mechanisms in order to make day-to-day decisions. Essentially, social media and content are delivering meaningful conversions and ROI. Social media search is now becoming a more interactive replacement for Google, and its popularity and range of use are only expected to grow with time.
As this shift happens, social media marketing will continue to be an important area of focus for all businesses, big and small, going into 2023. But, with more and more social competition expected, and increased investment required to extend the reach of content and keep afloat changing algorithms, you need to be creating content that not only engages users but also creates actual conversion in business. An engaged audience is amazing, however, in 2023 we want that time and money investment to convert!
3. Authentic social media
Have you heard of the new application taking GenZ by storm called BeReal? Users are invited once a day at random to post a photo of whatever they’re doing, whether it’s chilling at home in sweatpants or doing a grocery run. The filters and edit buttons of Instagram and VSCO are nowhere to be found. The app gives you two minutes to post – after that, you’re late, and your friends will know.
People are sick of the fakes pics, bodies and news. We want authenticity, no filters, so in 2023 get ready to showcase your truest self. The importance of authenticity with your community is a nonnegotiable – especially with the growth of Web3 creating a decentralized experience.
This continuing trend means that it will be more and more important to tell your story and share who you are with your audience through interactive content and meaningful engagement.
Ben Jeffries, CEO and Influencer says,
“As of 2023, consumers have thus been
reimagined as communities; groups who
should be understood, and advertised to,
based on a more human, modern frame, and it
will be advertisers who take this approach,
who win in the coming year.”
Take on 2023 with us on Wednesday, December 7th 10amCST
Content isn‘t king anymore, QUALITY CONTENT IS QUEEN. ????
Want to get the inside scoop on how to stand out with quality content that will register with your audience? Join us for a LIVE EVENT hosted by Joshua B. Lee and me! Click here to register and hear us reflect on our 2022 predictions and showcase the rest of our 5 exciting trends.
