What were the most popular blog posts of 2024?

This is more difficult to answer today than a few years ago because my posts are read in so many different places today. I don’t spend the time curating social media views across all the various channels (like Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn) but certainly can see when a post goes “viral.”

Here at least is an estimate of the most popular posts of 2024 based on post views.

1. How to Reimagine Universities for the AI Era

Although this post appeared just a few weeks ago, it was “boosted” by Medium and appeared on the front page of the platform’s website. There is some wild thinking here, and most people agreed with my view that colleges need a radical new start.

2. In Defense of Jaguar (I think I’m the Only One)

A post that caused a rumble, earning 17,000 views on LinkedIn. I almost didn’t comment on this car controversy, but so many people wrote to me to ask what I thought about it that I took the plunge.

This is a good example of “spiky” content. I posed a contrarian view, not to be contrarian but to expose a defensible argument.

3. The Real Reason Marketing Content is Getting Worse

The idea is that a creative dependency on technology limits people’s ability to innovate because they don’t know the craft. This hit a chord with people, resulting in hundreds of reader comments across the web.

4. The Biggest Threat to Free Speech and Democracy Isn’t Speech. It’s Amplification

There are so many arguments about protecting free speech and the limits of free speech but most people are missing the point entirely. The opportunity for vast amplification of any view was something the Founding Fathers never anticipated.

5. It’s Time to Create a Creator Guild

One of the major limits on AI progress is a lack of access to high quality content. I would happily turn over almost 20 years of content to my AI overlords for fair compensation. Wouldn’t you? Solves so many problems.

6. Ten Non-Obvious Social Media Trends

In my early days as a blogger, I commented on social media almost exclusively. I thought it would be fun to return to my roots and point to some trends that seem to be passing many people by.

7. How Blogging Changed My Life

2024 marked the 15th anniversary of my blog. I normally don’t dwell on the past but this was an opportunity to reflect on how far I’ve come as a blogger. While blogging might seem like the OG social media content, it is still as vital as ever and still growing.

8. Why AI Will Not Doom Marketing

Open AI founder Sam Altman blurted out that AI will easily and rapidly eliminate 95% of all marketing jobs. I don’t know AI, but I do know marketing and I had to point out why this is view is simply wrong.

9. How to be the Best Fake Possible

If I hear the word “authentic” one more time I think I’ll hurl. Do we really want authentic? It never crosses my mind when I watch a spectacular action movie created almost entirely by CGI. If I value spectacular in the real world, why not in the business world. Should we embrace the Era of Spectacular?

10. The Biggest Mistake Content Creators Make Today

This might seem like a click-bait headline, but it’s not. I’ve done hundreds of personal coaching calls, and 90% of the people I speak to have grotesquely sub-optimized their content because of this one mistake.

So that’s a wrap. I’ll add that my top five podcast episodes of the year were:

1. Why it was time to burn this community to the ground

2. Beyond Imposter Syndrome

3. Creating your signature story

4. What business are you in — really?

5. The inescapable role of humans in an AI world

If you’re a fan of the blog, I think you will love The Marketing Companion podcast! 

Thanks for being here, and here’s to a great 2025.

Need a keynote speaker about brand communities? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustrations courtesy MidJourney

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The world is moving at the speed of Nvidia these days, and no career is being disrupted more than marketing.

I host a community called RISE that’s dedicated to the future of marketing. What’s coming next and how does this impact us? I thought it would be interesting to ask some people in the community about their biggest marketing lessons from 2024. Some of these are personal, some of them are enlightening, but all the lessons are worth your time today …

Sarah Stahl, ROI Driven Marketing Executive at Sarahstahl.com

Sarah Stahl

This year reminded me that marketing holds the power to make or break businesses, often in ways we underestimate. I watched the startup I work with navigate every business phase—highs, lows, and everything in between. The lifeline that kept cash rolling in? Instagram.

When we surveyed guests, nine out of 10 said they discovered us on Instagram—not through third-party booking apps like Airbnb, which most vacation rentals rely on. By the end of the year, 87% of our bookings were direct, driven by consistent Instagram growth powered by strategic influencer partnerships.

No viral stunts. No massive budgets. Just clear, focused marketing that turned Instagram into a revenue machine. This simple yet powerful strategy helped a startup reach breakeven within its first year. I’ve always believed in the craft of marketing, but 2024 showed me its unparalleled ability to save a business—or sink it.

Mike Carr, Cofounder of NameStormers & Autism Labs

AI is forcing us to be more human. As LLMs and agents emerge that can mimic how we talk and even how we look, authentic and raw content that reveals our feelings and emotion behind what we say will never be more important.

Polished, scripted, and overly-rehearsed podcasts & even keynotes will give way to communications that are more real, vulnerable, and reflective of who we are as flawed human beings. The sign of a true professional will be a combination of invaluable insights presented with unquestionable passion.

Brian Piper, Director of Content Strategy and Assessment, University of Rochester

Integrating AI into your marketing workflow is not a technology project. It’s a change management project.

Many companies and brands must clean up their data and content significantly before AI integration into their marketing or content workflows is successful.

Roxana Hurducas, Brand Strategy Advisor

2024 taught me an uncomfortable truth: Hate is the most efficient fuel in marketing, and the most powerful buying argument.

Roxana Hurducas

This revelation came from the presidential elections in my nation of Romania, where a candidate turned an electoral campaign into a marketing campaign. There were no substantial policy proposals, no detailed plans to address the challenges the country is facing. Instead, his campaign was pure marketing, built entirely on one central message: hate. Hate the system, hate the establishment, hate the political class. And it worked.

In marketing terms, he identified the pain point (a broken system) and offered a solution (himself as the alternative). The messaging was emotional, not rational. And as we know, people don’t buy products, services, or even candidates. They buy feelings, and hate is a feeling that unites people more strongly than almost anything else.

The fact that we long to belong, as Mark Schaefer has pointed out, is painfully relevant here. Georgescu’s campaign didn’t just sell hate; it sold a sense of belonging. They weren’t just voting; they were joining a movement. The against-the-system movement. This is the same dynamic that powers communities – only here, it was used as a weapon for political gain.

But this lesson applies far beyond elections. Hate and Belonging are two of the most powerful forces in human behavior, and marketers know this.

So, do we accept that hate sells and lean into it? Or do we, as marketers, take responsibility for the narratives we create and the emotions we amplify?

For me, the answer lies in ethics. Yes, hate is efficient. Yes, it works. But at what cost? The lesson of 2024 is as much a warning as it is a revelation: the fuels we choose to power our messages can burn more than we intend. And sometimes, what they destroy is trust, unity, and hope.

Tyler Stambaugh, Co-Founder of MAGNETIQ

Digital experiences are heavily undervalued as a way to differentiate and create a competitive advantage.

Iris van Ooyen, Life Navigation Mentor, Founder of Bright Eyes

Genuine enthusiasm sells— and that ripples through best in live interactions. This summer I crafted a new mastermind and I was so thrilled about the concept that when I spoke to a former client about it, he signed up on the spot. AND offered to share it with two peers (one registered as well). This would not have happened through an email exchange. I learned that your personal energy and enthusiasm are crucial and most effective live and one-on-one.

Aaron Hassen, Chief Marketer at AH Marketing and host of Business with Humans YouTube series

B2C channels are also B2B channels.

Aaron Hassen

Earlier this year, I was developing a campaign for a B2B client, pulling a prospect list from their CRM, when I noticed the data was woefully inadequate: company emails, company phone numbers and office locations. Not very useful. See, I had interviewed scores of their best customers, and when asked where they went to find solutions like theirs, the answer wasn’t corporate newsletters, cold calls or trade magazines, it was a trusted colleague, podcast and social media.

The sources of B2B influence have shifted. Forrester predicts that more than 50% of B2B buyers, particularly younger ones, will rely on social media and their value network to help make purchase decisions in 2025. And according to LinkedIn, social media was a top source of B2B marketing investment (75% of companies) in 2024. The fastest growing B2B channel? Streaming television! 55% of B2B marketers said they plan to increase investment there in the coming year.

It’s clear that in today’s work-from-home environments, B2B professionals are consuming information like B2C consumers: from their laptops, iPads, smart watches, smartphones, smart home devices and smart TVs. Reaching busy professionals in their everyday lives and getting them talking about our brand is difficult. This is why we must move past traditional B2B channels toward consumer channels that better connect us with our customers.

Emiliano Reisfeld, Marketing Manager

In 2024, marketing evolved toward more agile and compact funnels, where investment in conversion is key to empowering consumers who demand instant personalization.

An example: From Zero to Millions: TikTok Shop’s GMV Journey

Trona Freeman, Social Media and SEO Specialist for small businesses

Trona Freeman

More people are looking for alternatives to the Meta platforms for their small business marketing.

People are increasingly finding these platforms difficult for a host of reasons. 2024 has also been a very challenging year socio-culturally, and people want to have an escape online, and that place is moving toward Pinterest. Pinterest is people’s happy space, a place to go to escape the noise of the internet and the world at large.

Research shows that Gen Z is the fastest-growing audience on Pinterest, making up 42% of its global user base. And they’re searching and saving more than other generations.

Lush discovered this a few years ago when they moved from the Meta platforms and now use Pinterest as a key platform online as a positive way to promote and connect with their audience. Context matters, so make sure you are meeting your customers in a place that resonates with them. That could be Pinterest or smaller, more intimate spaces like Discord.

Joeri Billast, Host of the Web3 CMO Stories podcast

In 2024, I discovered that authenticity, consistency, and patience are the keys to building a personal brand that resonates globally.

In Belgium, I’m seen as a peer. At conferences in Toronto, Barcelona, and Lisbon, I received incredible feedback about my podcast. And in Cairo, I felt like a hero after my keynote (I killed it!). People lined up for selfies, connected with me on LinkedIn, and two days later, my AI workshop sold out, so much so that it was moved to a larger room in another hotel.

The surprising part? Context matters, but consistency and authenticity build relationships that transcend borders. People don’t connect with perfection—they connect with real stories and genuine engagement. The takeaway: Keep showing up, even when it feels like no one’s watching … because they are!

Zack Seipert, Marketing and Communications Specialist

This year, I (re)learned that relevance is the cornerstone of modern marketing success. Whether it’s crafting a social media post or developing a full campaign, the key is understanding what truly resonates with your audience in the moment. Even the most creative content will fall flat if it doesn’t align with your audience’s current needs, values, or environment. Staying tuned in to the pulse of culture and pivoting when necessary can make all the difference in creating content that truly connects and moves.

Bruce Scheer, Co-Founder of ValuePros.io

My lesson was the power of a consistent online presence.

Being part of the RISE community transformed my perspective on digital engagement. Mark Schaefer’s Personal Branding Masterclass provided the foundation. The real magic happened when I finally conquered my imposter syndrome and committed to regular online participation.

Bruce Scheer

My journey began with a simple decision: show up consistently. This meant producing weekly content and engaging daily, particularly on LinkedIn. I had Mark and others in the RISE community as role models to follow. The initial hesitation gave way to a natural rhythm of authentic interactions.

I next launched the “ValuePros Show” across YouTube and podcast platforms, which became a gateway to extraordinary conversations. Each guest brought unique insights, making 2024 a year of remarkable learning and growth. Finally, I set up a weekly newsletter that already has 1,500 subscribers and is growing.

This has been a year of deeper professional relationships, expanded business opportunities, and enhanced visibility for our tech-forward consulting firm.

Consistency truly reigns supreme in marketing. By maintaining a steady presence and authentic engagement, what started as a personal branding challenge evolved into a powerful business strategy.

Julie Van Ameyde, Founder of Simply Social Media

When a long-time client sold their business, my routine was turned upside-down. While I continued working with the new ownership, the transition highlighted the need for adaptability and resilience to navigate unexpected changes. Marketing success isn’t just about being prepared for technological change. It means you have to be resilient enough to be ready for anything. 

Rob LeLacheur, Owner of Road 55 in Edmonton, Canada

Traditionally, my team has produced Triple A, polished video content and we’re proud of that. But we learned in 20204 that there is a large space for low fidelity (Lo Fi) content, and in many cases, that content performs much better than Hi Fi.

Lo-Fi reduces the barrier to entry by creating a feeling that you’re not being sold to. The content is more real and people are willing to give it a chance. An example of Lo Fi that works well is an imperfect,
behind-the-scenes blooper reel.

Hi Fi is most appropriate for situations where the consumer is already engaged, like a website or presentation.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez, Co-Author of The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever

People crave being back at live, in-person events. I just attended a conference that was sold out, and that hasn’t happened since before COVID. There is an unmissable magic that happens when people gather together. When in doubt, make it in-person and make it awesome!

Martin O’Leary, Creator of “Uncharted” Newsletter

Taste is the new superpower.

Martin O’Leary

Remember endless Slack messages and three-week waits for a simple video edit? Those days are dead. But this isn’t just another AI story. The real shock isn’t that AI can help make content – it’s that it’s forcing marketers to become master craftsmen.

Think about it: when everyone can create anything, the differentiator isn’t access to tools. It’s taste.

Pre-2024: Marketing meant being a professional coordinator. You managed designers, video editors, and endless Figma feedback loops. Your job was orchestration. Post-2024: Marketing means being a filmmaker, designer, and writer rolled into one. One person with Claude, Getimg.ai, Runway.ai, and CapCut isn’t just replacing a team – they’re rewriting the rules of what makes marketing great.

The winners aren’t the tech-savvy marketers. They’re the ones studying Kubrick’s camera angles, dissecting Nike’s brand guidelines, and obsessing over typography. Because when AI democratizes creation, deep craft to write better prompts becomes the moat. Just like the iPhone killed Blackberry by making computing personal, full-stack marketers are killing the assembly line approach to creativity.

Sharon Joseph, VP Marketing

“Advertisements suck, I don’t care, Please Make It Stop.”

That quote from my eight-year-old, mocking the streaming ads, hit a nerve. Growing up, I loved ads—their creativity, humor, and storytelling inspired me to pursue a career in advertising.

Over two decades, I’ve seen the industry evolve, from a passion-driven art form to a relentless stream of noise. Now, as a VP of Marketing, I market to the very people creating the ads that my child—and frankly, most of us—find unbearable.

It was the first week of 2024 when two campaigns stood out: Calvin Klein’s Jeremy Allen White spot and Brlo Brewery’s parody. They reminded me that authenticity and storytelling can still resonate. But most ads in the past year? Forgettable.

As marketers, we must rethink our approach. People crave connection, not interruption. If we can’t offer something meaningful, maybe we shouldn’t offer anything at all. Because in a world tuning out, it’s not about shouting louder—it’s about creating with purpose.

Mark Schaefer, blogger-in-chief

I learned so many lessons in 2024 but here are a few significant ones.

• The world is changing at an overwhelming pace, and I cannot remain relevant on my own. Being part of a supportive community is the only way to survive this onslaught.
• Every day is a new marketing day. What was true yesterday may not be true today. Be willing to let go to grow.
• Competence is a commodity. Competence is ignorable. If you are merely competent, you’re vulnerable.
• It’s easy to get caught up in the latest AI magic trick, but don’t lose sight of the fact that marketing is a people business. Work through the tech hype and stay focused on fundamentals.
• 99% of the people in the world have no clue what’s about to happen to their lives through AI.
• As the big tech companies race toward AI dominance, they are systematically and unabashedly breaking the law as part of their business strategy. 2024 was the year that “character” went out of fashion.
• In all of history, this is the most fun and interesting time to be in marketing!

Many thanks to my brilliant and generous community for adding their wisdom to this post today.

Need a keynote speaker about the future of marketing? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post What we learned about marketing in 2024 appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

At the end of Marketing Rebellion, a bestselling book that served as a wake-up call for the state of marketing, I predicted what might be the next consumer rebellion. I believe I got it right, and the revolution could be coming sooner than I expected. Let’s take a look at what’s going on, and the implications for marketing and our AI future.

The First Three Rebellions

The thesis of Marketing Rebellion is that every time businesses and their marketing efforts push consumers too far, the customers rebel, resulting in a cataclysmic shift in marketing strategy.

The first rebellion came in the 1920s. The advertising industry had become a multi-billion-dollar industry, attaching remarkable claims to everything from cigarettes to toothpaste. But when these claims became TOO remarkable, they were outright lies. Consumers rebelled, and the industry was regulated through the Federal Trade Commission and similar agencies in other nations.

The second rebellion occurred in the 1990s. Companies made money on what you didn’t know. Profit margins were made on the public’s ignorance about the truth of insurance policies, used cars, and vacation plans. The internet ended all that. There were no more secrets. Today, it’s likely that an informed consumer knows more about your product than you do!

The third rebellion started around 2010 and the advent of social media. Historically, a “brand” is what a company told you it was. Advertising disrupted your view that Coke was colored sugar water and turned it into playful polar bears, for example. However, with social media, brand marketing was disrupted because customers owned the conversations. In fact, more sales occur through consumer social posts than traditional brand marketing. This was the end of marketing control.

The Fourth Marketing Rebellion

At the end of the book, I projected that the fourth marketing rebellion would have something to do with biometric data.

I wrote that the next technological revolution would depend on securing mountains of data on personal habits, down to every heartbeat. While consumers are normally resigned to the fact that we’re being tracked all over the internet in exchange for free search and social media, collecting and selling our bodily data might be a step too far.

In my recent post, “Are we creating AI, or are AI Agents creating us?” I summarized a research report on the ethics of AI. A few points pop out for me:

• AI Agents will monitor biometric data, facial expressions, and emotions to determine our state of mind. They will react differently to us if they know we are irritable or sleep-deprived, for example.
• AI Agents will have access to so much personal information that significant new levels of consent and security will be required. The threat level of information being used out of context is extremely high. Since agents will “plug in” to external services, we will place abnormally high trust in our agents and how information is stored and used. A data breach might mean that every fact of our life and health would be available on the web.
• The economic incentive will be to create bots that make the user happy in a way that cultivates dependence. Connecting with a bot in a deeply personal way could adversely affect user well-being and create the risk of infringing on user privacy and autonomy.
• As we become dependent on bots to take over daily interactions, humans will be “out of the loop,” and disconnected from many normal human interactions. If agents are designed to monitor our vital signs and promote “well being,” how is that defined? If we follow a path of automated, programmed self-improvement, are we improving as human beings or conforming to an algorithmic definition created by programmers? Will AI change society based on the coding preferences of developers?

Do you think this would push consumers into a rebellion? I think it is already happening.

Is the fourth marketing rebellion already here?

I can imagine a world where these bots are so useful that we ignore the vast data collection going on. But I think there are two places where we might draw the line:

1. If biometric data collection affects how we raise our children. For example, a new AI app called Ursula records a child’s response to information and makes money by interpreting potential emotional problems or learning disabilities to parents. It promises that “no kid will feel alone again.” Are we going to put AI in charge of that?
2. People will resist if data collection becomes required to function in society. A recent sign that the fourth marketing rebellion is upon us is that U.S. legislators are pushing for limits on facial recognition data collection at airport security, arguing that facial recognition poses “significant threats to our privacy and civil liberties.”

In the next few years, collecting and accessing customer biometric data could present revolutionary new marketing opportunities for personalization, customized drug therapies, and products that adjust to moods (and change them!). Yes, this is exciting. Yes, this can be profitable. But let’s not lose sight of history and the implications when we cross the line.

A note about that photo: “I am Robert Robot, mechanical man. Drive me and steer me, wherever you can.” These were the words uttered by Robert the Robot, a 1954 tin toy robot produced by New York-based Ideal Toy Corporation. Robert was run via a wired remote control, and about half a million units were sold. Robert is one of the staples of any vintage toy robot collection, with several dedicated fan pages on the web.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post A Prediction: The Fourth Marketing Rebellion appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

While AI is the greatest marketing story since the internet, it’s been earning a lot of bad press lately.

• Some analysts don’t see the possibility of an ROI commensurate with the billions being poured into the technology.
• Environmentalists decry the energy that is needed to maintain the systems.
• Lawsuits are flying everywhere, and deep fakes have become mainstream news.
• And on top of this, most people aren’t adopting the technology beyond “dabbling.”

It begins to make you think:: Does AI have a marketing problem?

A few weeks ago, I suggested that it was time for AI to embrace marketing. No tech company is telling the story of what AI is and where it’s going—the story is being interpreted by pundits, critics, and politicians.

Sure enough, both Google and Microsoft launched ad campaigns during the Olympics, but the ads were terrible. Google’s ad, in which a father encourages his daughter to use Gemini to write a letter to her favorite athlete, was particularly cringe-worthy. Writing a child’s letter? Is that the best you can do?

The AI marketing problem is one of many subjects I cover with Paul Roetzer on the new episode of The Marketing Companion. Paul is the founder of the Marketing AI Institute and always presents a measured view of the AI landscape. But we did address some hot-button issues like:

• The new AI “robber barons” knowing stealing content and IP to grow a business
• The HUGE copyright issue blocking adoption
• The special impact of Elon Musk
• The lack of preparation for possible AI-driven job loss
• AI and the U.S. election
• AI and marketing productivity

Does AI have a marketing problem? This episode will undoubtedly get you thinking. Click here to listen!

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 296

Resources mentioned in the show:

JobsGPT

Artificial Intelligence Show

MAICON

CharacterAI

Special thanks to guest appearances from RISE members who participated in the bonus Q&A session:

• Joeri Billast
• Brian Piper
• Dan Christ
• Sandee Rodriguez
• Roxana Hurduca?
• Bruce Scheer
• Scott Scowcroft

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post Does Marketing Have an AI Problem or Does AI Have a Marketing Problem? appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Too short for an entire blog post, too fun to pass up, here are a few observations from the marketing world.

My AI stack

It’s hard to have a definitive comparison because all these LLMs are in a race to AGI (super-human intelligence) and evolving week by week.

We have had many discussions in here about where to focus and invest because you could go broke buying subscriptions to everything. I will give you my current use portfolio and maybe others can add their own use cases.

• I have a premium subscription to ChatGPT. It is multipurpose and evolving fast. I use it primarily for idea generation and data analysis. But really you can use it for almost any type of problem. Recently, I had it find the shadiest place in a baseball stadium, a translation of a Japanese tweet, and a recipe to use vegetables I plucked from my garden.
• I use Perplexity extensively for research because it provides the sources. It does not require a subscription to do a good job.
• I have a subscription to MidJourney for image generation. It is inexpensive and easy to use. I don’t use this for commercial purposes like advertising because there is a legal gray area with copyright, but I use it for slide decks and personal blog posts.
• I have a subscription to Claude 3 because it is best for writing. I use it primarily for editing. Sometimes if a sentence isn’t coming out well, I’ll ask it for suggestions. I have not used AI to write blog posts or other long-form content. This is all me.
• I have a subscription to 11 Labs for voice synthesis. It uses my voice files to speak like me, and it narrates my latest book, “Social Media Explained 3.0,” with no work on my part. You can also choose extraordinary professional voices, which are pretty amazing. PS—This reads any text, making a nonverbal person verbal.
• I know this sounds weird, but my most valuable tool day in and day out is Grammarly. This little company took a quantum leap forward this year. It is more than spell-check. It can improve your writing on the fly and is a big time-saver because my first drafts suck!

Hope this helps you sort through the hype!

Just cool.

I came across this hand-drawn graph from the World War II era. Can you imagine the teams of people they had drawing these charts? I think this is beautiful and elegant.

Interesting retail trend

I’ve been reading about Retail Media Networks (RMN), which allow brands to connect with consumers more directly and in real-time. Retailers leverage their private first-party data to offer brands ad opportunities with engaging (and even interactive) messaging.

Essentially, the big shopping chains are becoming the ad network for brands. This is a really significant trend because the stores own the customer data. They own the customer interface. I can see a day when retailers make more money from ad placements than sellling clothes and consumer goods.

Unexpected role of community in the AI Era

Three years ago, I planted a seed. A Discord community focused on marketing’s future. Like all good experiments, it grew in unexpected ways.

Pre-ChatGPT, we were already riding waves of change. SEO. TikTok. Metaverse. NFTs (remember those?).

Then AI crashed onto the shore. Marketing didn’t just change – it leapt onto a new highway altogether. I couldn’t keep up alone. RISE became my university.

Yes, we’ve forged friendships. We support each other through storms. But more than that, the community has become my teacher.

Every post I write, every speech I create, and every interview I give is informed by this community. For the first time in my life, I’ve realized that I can’t remain relevant all by myself. Community isn’t just nice-to-have. It’s essential for my professional survival.

I’d like to invite you to come along. If you need help staying relevant in this crazy world, RISE might be the place for you. More information here.

Purpose-driven marketing

I’ve been studying a lot of youth-oriented challenger brands. It seems to me that most of them don’t start with a product. They start with a purpose and an intent: “Here is a problem in the world. This is what we’re doing about it.”

Customers don’t necessarily buy into the brand. They enroll in it.

Why doesn’t Google learn?

Many years ago, I visited Google headquarters for a project and met the product manager for Google Glass. This was, of course, the ill-fated Augmented Reality headset they charged $1,500 for and then promptly took off the market. Every problem with that headset could have been determined in a 24-hour consumer test.

The product manager said to me humbly, “We don’t get marketing. We really don’t.”

In some period of time, that might have been a charming admission. Awwww … the geeky Google engineers don’t get marketing. Isn’t that cute?

But now, Google is one of the biggest companies in the world, and its marketing is still horrible. The recent Olympic commercials were so bad they pulled them off the air.  I truly don’t understand it. Hire somebody.

I hope you enjoyed this little round-up. Thanks for being here.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustrations courtesy Unsplash

The post My AI stack and other short observations from the marketing world appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Sara Wilson and I are both obsessed with a similar professional passion: Cutting through all obstacles to reach our customers. Becoming the signal against the noise.

I can argue that this is the most difficult time in history to break through and reach customers — by far. I’ve written about this extensively, but the short story is, our customers have largely become their own ad-free, isolated, curated media outlets.

Another dynamic that is good for consumers but bad for brands is the move toward online communities for connection and information sharing. Sara believes that communities are now the primary online gathering place for customers. That is a radical and profound change from the public forums of social media, a fertile field of data for our social listening platforms.

The latest episode of The Marketing Companion is a show bursting with big ideas and a healthy debate about what’s happening and what’s next as we fight to connect to customers who don’t want to be tracked and found. There are some bold new ideas in the show as Mark and Sara connect the dots on one of the biggest problems facing companies today.

We cover some big ideas …

• Can a hashtag become a community?
• Can a brand truly participate in a community … or is it a person?
• Is the idea of an “affinity group” the key to new social platform success?
• How do we find the nuance and insights that lead to innovation?

This is a mesmerizing conversation and all you have to do is click here to listen in …

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion episode 290

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

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Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

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Illustration courtesy MidJourney

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Unable to sleep one night, I mindlessly scrolled Instagram. The platform’s algorithm learned I love nature and served up the most mesmerizing video of butterflies in a rainforest. The vibrancy and patterns of the wings seemed surreal. And I wondered … is it real?

This will be the number one question facing marketers, beginning right now. The future of misinformation and deep fakes we’ve been dreading is here. This is our life from now on.

Is it real? We’re hurtling uncontrollably into the AI Era, and most of the time, the answer to this question will be “no.”

And if you can’t assure your customers of what’s real and what’s true, you’re cooked.

Let me explain why your marketing department’s biggest challenge starts now, and why the solution is not easy or cheap.

The world is upside down

My email inbox was getting filled with requests for me to complete secure online contracts. However, I’m not expecting any contracts at the moment, so I worried they were fake.

I have a friend who is an executive with the secure document company, and I asked her how I could tell if these contracts were fake or not. Indeed, she determined that all the emails were phishing scams, and she pointed out several nuances within the emails that could have been clues to their inauthenticity.

“But how would I know?” I asked. “When I see your company logo within an email, shouldn’t I be able to trust it?”

“We’re aware of the problem,” she said, “but it’s up to the consumer to detect fraudulent activity.”

When have we ever been in a time where the customer is responsible for quality control? The world has been flipped upside down. And that’s just the beginning of the problem.

The word of this decade is TRUST

The Edelman Trust Barometer has demonstrated a decline in trust in nearly every institution for the past 15 years. To make things worse, no company, no brand, no person is safe from deep fakes. News of how a Hong Kong firm was fleeced out of $25 million by fake video avatars was all over the news recently.

Let’s go back to the secure contract dilemma. This executive is telling me I cannot trust any email containing her company brand unless I train myself to detect fraud. (She recommended that I attend an online training program.)

Let’s think this through. Are we really going to count on the world following directions on how to detect fraud just to use our service? What kind of a marketing strategy is that?

Of course this is not just a document or contract problem. Nearly every bank and credit card company has been the victim of these hackers. It makes the days of the Nigerian Prince scam look quaint.

A solution

For the solution to our problem, let’s look at an example of a brand that was nearly destroyed by bad actors that had nothing to do with the company.

In 1982, five people died from swallowing Tylenol capsules laced with a lethal dose of cyanide. Before the crisis, Tylenol controlled more than 35 percent of the over-the-counter pain reliever market. Only a few weeks after the murders, that number plummeted to less than 8 percent. The dire situation, both in terms of human life and business, made it imperative that the Johnson & Johnson executives respond swiftly and authoritatively.

The company didn’t shed blame or place the responsibility for safety on consumers. It issued mass warnings and immediately called for a recall of the more than 31 million bottles of Tylenol. They offered replacement capsules to those who turned in pills and a reward for anyone with information leading to the apprehension of the individuals involved in these random murders.

Johnson & Johnson developed new product protection methods and ironclad pledges to do better in protecting their consumers in the future. Working with FDA officials, they introduced new tamper-proof packaging, which included foil seals and other features that made it obvious to a consumer if foul play had transpired. These packaging protections soon became the industry standard for all over-the-counter medications.

Even though Tylenol did not cause the deaths, the company paid millions in cash settlements to the victim’s families and made provisions to pay for the college educations of eight minor children of the victims.

Within a year, and after an investment of more than $100 million, Tylenol’s sales rebounded to its healthy past, and it became, once again, the nation’s most-trusted over-the-counter pain reliever.

Marketing’s biggest challenge

What’s the lesson here?

Steve Jobs famously said, “A brand is trust.”

This implies that you can’t have a brand without trust. Let that sink in. You can’t have a brand without trust. 

If I can’t trust the document signing company, the company no longer has a brand.

Visa and other credit cards will no longer have a brand.

Wells Fargo and other banks will no longer have a brand.

I recognize this is an enormously complicated issue. But I also have no tolerance for a company telling me I need to fix their problem by attending a training program on fraud prevention.

These companies (and maybe yours) need to act like Tylenol. Spare no expense to protect consumers. Spare no expense to protect the trust associated with your brand.

Spend whatever it takes to fix this. In the case of the secure document company, they could:

• Invent a fraud detector app. If they can send me a pdf with fake contract warning signs, they can put the same prompts in an app.
• Give me a browser extension that detects and flags fraudulent emails that contain the name of their company.
• Let us log into a secure portal to sign docs — like what tax preparation companies or wealth management companies offer
• Partner with the top email providers like Microsoft and Google to send these little spam-demons to their own special DANGER FILE.

Come on. There are options. You can do this. And what the frick ever happened to the whole blockchain authenticity promise?

Soon, there will be no choice

Here’s what’s happening in the world. If companies don’t get ahead of this, they will be regulated into protecting their customers.

Last month, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a proposal to make banks and other institutions bear the responsibility of phishing scam losses ahead of victims (thanks to my friend Alan Ling for passing this along).

The proposal sets out a list of “discrete and well-defined duties” for these companies, making them liable to pay if they have fallen short of their responsibilities. These duties include the failure of banks to send outgoing transaction alerts to consumers and the failure to implement a scam filter.

Authorities hope the framework will strengthen the “direct accountability” of financial institutions and reduce phishing scams in the first place.

Won’t every country move in this direction?

The secure document company should be held to the same account as Tylenol. A company cannot place the responsibility for brand trust on its customers … especially customers who are too busy to take your fraud prevention training. And let’s be honest — I can’t follow directions any way.

I love this document company. It has made my life so much easier. I love online banking, tax preparation, and eCommerce. But the whole stack is about to crumble if we can’t trust them.

When your customers ask you, “is it real?” what will you tell them?

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post Marketing’s Biggest Challenge starts NOW appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

SXSW 2024 was a gathering of thought leadership, providing a glimpse of “what’s next” in media, technology, and marketing, among other topics. I’ve been attending SXSW since 2010. It’s expensive, crowded, and — with 500 sessions a day — overwhelming — but I regard it as an essential part of my professional growth.

Each year has its own personality. My first conference in 2010 represented the dawn of social media — unbridled excitement! SXSW 2024 seemed more somber as attendees pondered deep fakes, the existential nature of AI, humanoid robotics, quantum computing, inclusivity, and mental health.

I took pages and pages of notes — this is a serious learning opportunity! But I wanted to pass along at least a few observations. I want to emphasize that my experience is a tiny sliver of the SXSW 2024 reality. I skipped out on the celebrities, the movie debuts, and the glitzy brand activation parties in favor of relevant topics, smaller discussions and intimate dinners.

I attended a workshop on how to be a futurist. The big a-ha for me was approaching various future scenarios through storytelling. Articulating a narrative about the future makes you think through the implications of trends. Very useful.

The first research on Gen Alpha was interesting. Gen Alpha is 0-10 years old so this came through interviews with their Millennial parents. They are projected to be:

• Fiscally conservative, an outfall of parents who are in debt
• Highly aware of brands and brand preferences
• Already influential in family purchase decisions
• The first headset generation. They prefer VR to tablets
• Non-readers of book
• 40% spend at least three hours a day online, and 24% spend at least 7 hours a day on a smartphone (if they have one).

Researchers emphasize the critical value of intuition in the AI Era: “The greatest source of wisdom is in our bodies.”

An interesting idea: Imagine your brand as a character. What would it look like? What would it say? What is its aesthetic?

There has been progress with technology to detect deep fakes but the social media platforms have rejected it because hate and controversy are good for their ad sales. Experts point out that elections are already being disrupted around the world by deep fake content and the US election is going to be a misinformation shit show. Biggest threat in 2024 is voice fakes, in 2025, realistic video avatars. Sora was mentioned as a game-changer.

There are 100,000 applications that make deep fakes. Nobody stands a chance to discern deep fakes without technological support. We need AI to beat AI.

During a keynote discussion about OpenAI, protesters yelled outside, pleading to protect the jobs of graphic designers. Poignant moment and an uphill battle.

Interesting research on what creates customer immersion (beyond engagement):

1. Awareness – Overcoming distractions and getting their attention. Include them on their terms.
2. Willingness – They decide to participate. Is it worthwhile? Do we have the time? Are there others we know who are involved? Is it safe? Safety is crucial.
3. Connection – Does it meet expectations? What is it offering? Can I contribute? If you don’t make this connection quickly and clearly, you lose people. “I was drawn in, it seemed relevant.” Once they are engaged, is the safety validated? Learning about the norms of the group.
4. Investment – Risking their social capital, giving their attention, an ongoing investment. People want to see an immediate return. Is the community responsive to my needs?
5. Sharing – Earned by a gratifying experience. We want other people to share this experience. Community networks are the key to engagement loops (self-sustaining engagement, collective immersion)

SXSW 2024 was filled with thrilling brand activations like this 3D spatial computer promotion for a Netflix series.

I was encouraged to see a lot of content focused on the importance of word-of-mouth marketing as a “lived brand experience.” I wrote extensively about this in Marketing Rebellion as a key part of the future of marketing. I really think we are moving into a new era of brand marketing!

58% of Gen Z think the more absurd, the cooler it is. 82% say being weird is in. Perhaps discomfort is the future of marketing – breaking taboos.

Commercial humanoid robots are a year away and will be under $50,000. Good at moving things and lifting, nimble physical dexterity. Integration with AI allows more human-like decision-making.

TikTok has established an expectation that brands are defined by co-creation (re-mixing memes) and community instead of “broadcasting.” Co-creation is the language of the platform. You no longer have full control of your brand. Brands have to learn the language of creation. People expect brands to be part of the humor and that might poke fun at a brand.

There has been a lot written about the amount of time people spend scrolling on TikTok but what is not being captured the enormous time spent on creating for TikTok. It really stunned me to realize how many people are devoting their lives to ephemeral content in the hope of their 15 minutes of fame.

Another realization … almost every TikTok viral brand “success story” is a fluke. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t strategized, it had nothing to do with an intentional creative effort. The famous cranberry juice case study is an example. TikTok’s recommendation for success: Lower your brand standards. Hmmmmm … that is not going to be a popular suggestion.

Growth in the gaming industry is stagnant, and the business is experiencing an upheaval due to consolidations and new platforms. Instead of new titles, growth is expected to come through interactivity and community.

With a history of employee abuse, the game industry is expected to be unionized.

SXSW 2024 was filled with a lot of movie star glitz, but I skipped that part (and the lines!) to focus on educational sessions that will energize me for the rest of the year!

Major marketing industry disruptors disclosed in various sessions:

• Hyper-fragmentation of culture and media. How do we reach them? 250 million creators = 250 million new media channels
• Rapid growth of Discord and other private communities
  Ad-free social media platforms
• No watercooler moments – no shared experiences due to isolation
• Spatial computing
• Immersive and metaverse — headset costs will drop, experiencing products will be transformed
• Data privacy — 2.6 billion data records breached in the last year
• Crackdown on collecting biometric data
• Data wallets. Consumers control the narrative
• Sustainability — Advertising eats up a lot of energy. Times Square could power 160,000 homes
• Neuroscience — EEGs, Eye tracking, wearables, neural links. Meta is working on a tech that can read your mind
• Real-time advertising reactions enabled by AI
• There is a backlash against purpose-driven marketing because too many brands make promises they don’t keep.

Japanese technology used human brainwaves to communicate with a 3d printer and print a functional guitar. The command line is “your thoughts.”

We are in a technology supercycle that will create sustained changes in the economy. The last example was the Internet. Three technologies are driving this cycle: AI, biotech, and interconnected devices.

What if somebody creates an “AI event” with thousands of fake accounts and a variety of real content and reactions? It would take us a long time to figure out it was fake, and by that time, it could trigger a real-life reaction. The end state of AI is not cartoon images; it is a war, stated futurist Amy Webb. You can watch her talk here:

AI is running out of data, so companies are inventing new devices to get more data into their systems. We are about to be surrounded by millions of sensors to not only know what to say next but also what to do next. VR, like Apple Vision Pro, is a face computer that will collect details about your life. It will read your intentions by reading your pupils, which react before your body does. It will know what you will do before you do it. There will be a battle for face supremacy.

If somebody steals your biometric or movement identity, there is no way to get it back or reset it.

The market does not reward safety. It rewards supremacy.

An organoid is a computer grown from human brain cells. This is already happening. Brain-based computing (organoid intelligence) disconnects our need for rare materials and massive energy consumption.

AI will create massive disruption in jobs and the economy. Governments need to create a Department of Transition (create a soft landing for businesses, move people to trades)

Compared to other years, social media, content marketing, and Web3 were down; podcasts, metaverse, influencers, privacy, experiential marketing, community, and storytelling were up. And of course, AI was featured in a thousand sessions!

Well, those are a few takeaways from SXSW 2024. Hope you found something useful here and maybe I’ll see you at SXSW next year?

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post What’s Next? Reflections on #SXSW 2024 appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Annual social media prediction posts deserve their own category of boring. They usually name the same obvious trends over and over! This is the year of video! (yawn) And yet, we are in the midst of unprecedented, cataclysmic change. Let’s consider some non-obvious social media trends that are insightful, bold, and important!

And you will be happy to know that I barely AI at all (too obvious!).

This post covers 10 non-obvious social media trends:

1. Marketing speed

2. Why social media will upend search

3. The big new platform on the horizon

4. Why influence is everything

5. Social listening platforms in trouble

6. The essential role of community

7. Social commerce

8. Designer commerce

9. Watermarked content

10. Local content hubs

1. Marketing speed

This is the year for video! Just kidding. Couldn’t help myself.

Response speed is among the most overlooked and important factors weighing in on social media success, and nobody is talking about it.

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post tracing the history of speed in marketing and the implications of meme marketing. Today, achieving relevance on a channel like TikTok might require a response time of hours, or perhaps minutes, as memes emerge and fade.

Most companies are not built for this response time, especially if there are legal consideration. The speed of marketing today has vast implications for measurement, customer service, legal, and agency relationships.

One financial services firm I work with hired a lawyer for their marketing team just to speed content approval. How are you adjusting to the need for speed?

2. Social upends search

Everyone seems to be focused on how AI will change the game for search. But nobody seems to be noticing a much more significant and non-obvious trend. According to information from Statista, Gen Z is now conducting almost as many product searches on social media as Google:

This ties closely to the influencer marketing trend. The primary reason Gen Z visits social media is to catch up with their favorite influencers. And the main idea being shared by most influencers? New products they love.

But this isn’t just a GenZ trend. GWI reports in their 2024 trend report there’s been a 57% rise in baby boomers using TikTok since Q2 2021 … and they’re more likely to have bought a product or service online in the last week than Gen Z.

This suggests that SEO needs to be tied more closely to influencer marketing. Anybody out there planning for this? Is it even on the radar?

3. The big new platform

There seems to be just one significant new social media platform every five years or so. What’s going to be next? Nobody can say, but I have some clues.

Social media platforms have fragmented along generational lines. The only group growing on Facebook is 55 and older. The Snapchat crowd averages about 28. The average age of people on Reddit is 23. TikTok is the homebase for GenZ in their 20s. Everybody seems to like YouTube and Instagram

I think the next fracture will occur for Gen Alpha, the digital natives marching behind Gen Z. They’re looking up at their big brothers and sisters, thinking, “Naaaaah. We want our own place.”

And they will get it. What will it be like? Certainly video-oriented, but also expressing their value for authenticity and relationships. It might be something with only verified non-AI content. Maybe a cross between TikTok, Snapchat, and BeReal.

This might be beyond the next 12 months, but perhaps it’s time for a decentralized social network powered by blockchain. Just don’t call it blockchain. Transparency, control, and security will be mighty issues going forward and blockchain can help solve for that.

4. Influence is everything

The marketing world is in a state of massive transition. Advertising is less visible in a streaming media world and more expensive than ever. Where are these brand marketing dollars going to go?

I recently reported on new research from Ed Keller that points to one answer: Influencers. Ed found that the creator economy is massive — three times bigger than previously estimated. This trend has largely flown under the radar because it’s been so hard to measure.

Top YouTuber Mr. Beast just completed two months where he received more than 2 billion views per month. That’s staggering, unprecedented reach. He is perhaps the most influential media company in the world. A product placement with Mr. Beast might have bigger reach than an ad on the Super Bowl.

Not many people like being interrupted by ads. If they see them, they don’t believe them. But we believe each other, especially digital creators like Mr. Beast who feel like part of the family.

A new report found that 39% of consumers are watching more creator content than a year ago. Let that sink in. Can you imagine any other media property getting a 39% boost in one year? Advertising alongside creator content can jump-start the purchase funnel process, collapsing the awareness, interest, and consideration stages together.

The impact, reach, and influence of creators is exploding and yet an influence strategy is not even on the radar yet for most companies.

Creators are the media. Creators will dominate our marketing future. Are you onboard yet?

5. Social listening is in trouble

According to Edison Research, between 2022 and 2023, the percentage of people actively using the social community app Discord rose from 13 percent to 20 percent. You might think, “Wow. That’s a lot of growth. But here’s a chart that will really blow your mind:

First, notice the decline of young people using TikTok. Interesting. Now, look at the growth on Discord. In the age 12-34 category, daily usage rose from 26% to 42% IN ONE YEAR.

When have we ever seen growth like that on a social media platform? Never.

But here’s where it gets really interesting. Many of these vital community conversations on Discord are invisible to social listening platforms like Sprout Social and Sprinklr. Brands relying on social listening to monitor sentiment, mentions, and competitors are becoming more blind month by month as young people huddle behind the Discord /metaverse firewall.

6. Community is the future of marketing

The other day, I saw a provocative quote: “Creators are the new priests.”

It’s not about religion of course. It’s about assembling people. I can see this. In fact, I wrote a whole book about the idea. In Belonging to the Brand, I explained how the world is in a belonging crisis and those who can bring people together in community can create a deep and lasting emotional connection … which of course is the goal of your brand.

I’m not suggesting that brands take advantage of the emotionally vulnerable. I’m saying that brands are a part of our lives and there is room for brand-based communities that truly connect, and even heal.

I’m not alone in this view. The day I finished writing my book, McKinsey published a white paper claiming community is the next big thing in marketing.

Social media is not a strategy. It’s the beginning of a process that leads to community, as I wrote here.

7. Social Commerce, finally

In 2022, we witnessed the steady rise of social commerce, which allowed social media users to purchase products directly on social media. In 2024, social media platforms are expected to continue to become popular shopping outlets for consumers.

Furthermore, it’s projected that by 2026, global social commerce sales will reach a whopping $6 trillion, with the US having approximately 108 million social buyers by 2025.

A HubSpot survey shows that 22% of social media users purchased a product directly from Instagram, followed by 21% of consumers who bought directly on Facebook.

“Live commerce” combining influencer, livestreaming, and impulse buying eCommerce has taken off in Asia and this is the year it makes its mark in the rest of the world.

8. Designer content

OK, dream with me for a moment.

The business of social media is a battle of recommendation engines. The platform that can feed you the most fascinating and addictive content wins, because the longer you stay there, the more information they collect, the more ads you see, and the more money they make. For better or worse, the goal is to develop algorithms that create addiction, which is another story entirely.

Now let’s say Instagram learns that you love photos of kittens. Specifically, you want cute kittens dressed in human clothes. Why wouldn’t Instagram simply connect you to an AI that generates endless photos of cute kittens, like this:

I generated this image on MidJourney in five seconds. Here is the prompt I used: Cute kitten dressed in a blue gingham dress, photorealistic. In other words, this was extremely easy to do.

Why wouldn’t Instagram make you even more addicted to its platform by giving you exactly what you want, every day, every click by literally harnessing AI to generate your ideal, addictive images?

Stay with me. Within 18 months, we’ll be able to create full-length AI-generated movies on our laptop. Why wouldn’t Instagram and other social platforms create exactly the video content you want every day? At some point, Netflix and Disney will be doing this, too. You’ll get custom movies delivered to you some day soon.

We’ll just sit there sucking down content all day because we’re so mesmerized by those kittens. Maybe that’s how the Matrix started! You heard it here first: We can blame The Matrix on kittens.

9. Watermarked content

This is the year we will see massive disruption from deep fakes. In fact, it will be more than disruption. It will be chaos. I’ll bet we see at least one death this year attributed to deep fake content/misinformation.

We simply must have some kind of safety watermark for content so we know what’s true. There is progress in this area, but the challenge is creating a watermark that can be universally detected yet can’t be faked.

If you’re working in social media and content creation, this will soon be a major priority for you.

10. Local content hubs

Bill Landry

In my hometown of Knoxville, we have a local celebrity named Bill Landry. I could argue that he was the first independent video creator to monetize an audience — but it wasn’t over YouTube. It was over local TV.

Bill was the writer, director, producer, and actor in a video project called The Heartland Series. He filmed 1,400 short stories about Appalachian history, food, crafts, and rural life. Bill was a remarkable storyteller and his little videos were broadcast on the local TV station, sold as DVD sets, and even put together in a book. Because of his self-made celebrity, Bill was an in-demand speaker.

The classic creator model — build an audience and then monetize. But this was happening in the 1980s!

This is the only partnership between a “creator” and mainstream TV I’ve ever heard of. But why couldn’t this format be widespread today?

Today’s local TV studio has plenty of unused production and ad sales capacity, while local creators need a revenue stream, production facilities, and an audience. It makes total sense. Why wouldn’t local TV stations produce local cooking, sports, and music shows for a livestreaming audience and create a new revenue stream?

This is actually a retro idea. The early local TV stations hosted lots of local talent to fill the airwaves. Today, there seems to be a wall between traditional TV and streaming content, but why? If social media is so crowded, why not reimagine local TV as a relevant community content hub?

Perhaps the most non-obvious social media trends involve posting content and earning audiences in non-traditional places.

So there you have it. I hope a few of these non-obvious social media trends made you think, and perhaps provoked thoughts about new marketing strategies and business opportunities. The world of marketing is endlessly fascinating, and these trends are just the tip of the iceberg of what’s ahead!

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Top image courtesy Unsplash.com

Kitten image was created on MidJourney

The post 10 Non-Obvious Social Media Trends You Need to Consider Right Now appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.