Predictions for the year? Ha! I don’t have predictions for next week. But, as we embark upon a new year, it feels fitting to make some thoughtful predictions for what we expect to see this year. First of all, it is an optimistic (albeit challenging) time for media organizations. There are so many ways for media organizations to diversify their revenue streams. From email and affiliate marketing to virtual events, there are so many more ways to drive revenue than there was 10 years ago. And as a broader prediction, I suspect (and hope) that publishers will continue to do exactly that – diversify revenue streams. We’re also going into the last year of the third party cookie, a year when publishers should invest heavily in building their first-party data strategy and position their business for what comes in 2023. The collection of first-party data will equip media organizations to pursue those diversified revenue streams.
But it all starts with discovery, so let’s start there as the TFD team takes a stab at what’s to come in 2022.
Search
Publisher’s attentiveness to SEO has increased substantially over the past 5 years. Ever since Facebook’s 2017 algorithm change, publishers have slowly realized that getting quality traffic takes work and that work should start with search.
Journalists will be delighted to hear that the quality of content will be more important than ever. Remember, it is Google’s goal to provide users with the most accurate and useful information on the internet. With that, they will continue to prioritize E.A.T (we began to see this in early 2021). Researched quality content and trusted authoritative sources will have a leg up on the SEO game for 2022.
Social
Facebook and Instagram are doing (yet another) pivot to short videos due to their competition with TikTok. The algorithms are surfacing video more frequently than feed posts, links, and text posts. If you don’t have someone in your newsroom focused on creating video, it may be time to take a step back from ~Meta~ and focus on other ways to drive traffic to your site.
If you do have short video capabilities, consider TikTok as a new audience development tool. The algorithm surfaces videos from users with small followings to niche audiences, and you never know when your video will get hundreds of thousands of views. Take a peek at this list of newsrooms and journalists on TikTok that Francesco Zaffarano created for some inspiration.
Email Marketing
Privacy is a little less trendy, and more legally binding, but it’s going to be a big buzz word this year … again. Apple Mail Protection Privacy is not the end, but the beginning of a continued effort by platforms and providers to put consumer privacy first.
While "majority of users (66%) open emails on a mobile device. 58% of those opening emails on a mobile device use an Apple device" Source: Martech. Brands will continue to drag their feet on adopting new metrics and will likely hold onto open rate as a benchmark well into 2022.
But for those ready to face the reality of the demise of the open rate, publishers once focused on delivering newsletters meant to be read entirely in box, likely pivot back to emails with link round-ups, or build emails with more interactivity and click thru opportunities to gauge audience engagement in the open rate’s absence.
AI is going to up the ante in 2022. While segmentation and automation functions across ESP’s have improved, service providers still lack the hyperponsalization a consumer receiving 120+ emails a day requires. Anticipate ESP’s leveraging AI send functions further pushing marketers away from mass blast sends to sending consumers individualized emails at the exact right time.
And finally, as previously mentioned, first-party data will be a big player this year. With the cookie phase-out pushed to 2023, the chatter around first-party has quieted down a bit, but the need remains the same. In a more regulated digital landscape, marketers must to focus on growing key data points for individual records in their database.
Bring it on, 2022
Somehow the year 2022 is here. A bit shaky to start, sure, but we’re optimistic 2022 will be a good year for publishers, small business owners, hopefully the rest of population, too.
