Will 2022 be a Predictable year?

Last week, Page Up met for the first Think Thursday of 2022. This conversation was a brainstorm of the trends your peers think will continue into the new year. Many opinions and perspectives were shared, but the consensus was that corporate communications as a function will likely spread into even more areas, as the lines between marketing, communications and public relations become increasingly entangled.

Key Points:

• Stakeholder groups are more muddled than ever. Investors, customers, employees and activists are commingled groups, and consistency in messaging between each group is paramount.
• As marketers and communicators build relationships and share data, CommTech can help inform marketing’s understanding of the customer profiles and consumer journey.
• Due to many intranets’ lack of efficacy, communicators are beginning to use social media to understand their internal audiences.
• When readers only take the time to read the headline, it becomes increasingly difficult to explain complex ideas. A number of Page Up members have been experimenting with podcasts, town halls and other rich media channels to solve this issue.
• As one member shared, the most impactful influencer her organization had this past year was her CEO. Posts shared by her CEO were consistently the highest-engaged pieces of content on social media.

Final thought

What happened to deepfakes? 

One worrying trend from 12 months ago was the rise of deepfakes: AI-simulated videography that can be indistinguishable from reality. There were many theories shared as to why this trend did not turn out to be more impactful, but the real question raised was, “Who needs deepfakes when people can simply lie with impunity?” Deepfakes were not as relevant this past year, because other types of disinformation were able to proliferate with ease. Learn how you can prepare for and respond to disinformation by reading this Page Turner Blog.