The State of Consumer Trends in 2024 [Data from 700+ Consumers]

Consumer trends are changing all the time, reflecting the “never-sleeping” nature of markets and society.

From the rise of AI to the growing popularity of shopping on social media, heightened data privacy concerns and consumers tightening budgets due to recession fears, times are changing fast.

But one thing is certain — businesses need to track all these trends to avoid getting lost in the shuffle.

To help marketers keep up and stay ahead of the curve, we’ve run our biannual Consumer Trends Survey of 700+ U.S. adults. Keep a pulse on:

• What trends they’re following.
• How they spend their time online.
• How and where they prefer to shop.
• What standards they’re holding their favorite brands to.

U.S. Consumer Trends Report

Learn how consumers act, how they think, and what they expect now and beyond. Topics include:

• Purchase habits.
• Data privacy.
• Workplace trends.
• And more!

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Top Consumer Trends

Before jumping into all the trends, let’s highlight those that stand out in 2024:

• Trust in AI remains low despite its widespread use, calling for more transparency.
• Social media has transformed into shopping hubs, with influencers playing a big role in buying decisions.
• Newer social platforms gain popularity, while established ones see slower growth.
• Social search and AI shake up traditional engines, but people still trust them.
• Economic uncertainty prompts tightening budgets and job security worries.
• Data privacy becomes a basic right and demands clear rules and control.
• Brands standing for social issues and diversity earn consumer loyalty.
• Support for small businesses grows as consumers seek community connection.
• People prefer human support, social connections, and mobile searches.
• Flexible work arrangements become essential and strongly influence job decisions.
• Employees prioritize companies with inclusive cultures and positive environments.
• People love authentic and relatable video content.
• Consumer spending on non-essentials drops as people opt for quality over quantity.
• Gifting strategies and voice search opportunities gain traction.
• Metaverse pop-up shops and virtual stores are emerging as trends.
• Gen Z sets itself apart in shopping habits and social media usage.
• Consumers remain cautious about investing in Web3 and virtual currencies.

Digital Media Trends

1. Consumers don’t trust AI, but one-third still use it.

AI is hands down the top trend of 2024, with one in three consumers already using chatbots and platforms like ChatGPT.

But here’s the plot twist — only 33% of consumers actually trust content created with AI.

As businesses leverage AI, building trust and maintaining transparency are key to fostering consumer confidence in AI-driven experiences.

Regardless, 39% of full-time employees use AI at work, and 74% of them say it’s effective.

The top use cases for AI chatbots at work revolve around assisting people in their work rather than doing their job for them — helping with tasks like getting ideas or inspiration, summarizing text, and learning new things.

These are also among the most effective uses for AI in the workplace.

Workers are saying AI is most effective for analyzing and reporting data, learning new things, creating images/videos, getting ideas and inspiration, and conducting research.

Lastly, we asked consumers which AI they plan on using in the future.

Despite ChatGPT’s head start, almost half of consumers see themselves primarily using Google’s Gemini (formerly known as Bard) — followed by ChatGPT — with Bing in third place.

Discover how HubSpot AI can make your work easier, streamline processes, and generate great content effortlessly.

2. Social media is the future of shopping.

Social media is quickly becoming the future of ecommerce, with social shopping growing in popularity across all ages. Influencers are impacting more purchase decisions, while customers increasingly sliding into DMs for customer service.

Just in the past three months, 41% of consumers have discovered a product on social media.

In fact, Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X prefer finding products on social media over any other channel.

When it comes to actually purchasing these products, 25% of social media users have bought something directly on a social media platform in the past three months, rising to 43% of both Gen Z and Millennials since our January update.

On top of that, 21% of social media users have bought a product based on an influencer’s recommendation in the past three months.

For Gen Z, 27% have bought a product thanks to an influencer in the past three months, and they say recommendations from influencers are more impactful to their purchase decisions than recommendations from their friends or family.

Of social media users, 17% have also sent DMs to get customer service in the past three months. Not only that, but 1 in 4 Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X say DMs are how they prefer to get customer service from a company.

In past Consumer Trends pulse surveys, we continued to see that consumers don’t fully trust social shopping.

Today, they seem to be coming around.

While just 47% of social media users feel comfortable buying through social apps and only 45% trust social media platforms with their card information, both of these are improvements over last year’s numbers.

3. Younger social platforms gain steam as legacy apps stall.

Despite being the most used social media platforms, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram saw the least growth in users in our survey group year-over-year.

Facebook usage remained flat, Instagram usage dropped by 5%, and YouTube usage dropped by 2%. Meanwhile, BeReal grew 333%, Twitch grew (43%), and TikTok grew (21%).

(Note: We ran this survey just before Threads launched and expect it to be a big discussion point in our next bi-annual survey.)

Still, Facebook is the most popular social media app, used by 71% of consumers, followed by YouTube (61%), Instagram (42%), TikTok (37%), and X, Snapchat, and Pinterest (all at 23%).

Although LinkedIn is towards the bottom of the list, B2B marketers shouldn’t panic or count it out.

Although it saw a slight decrease in users year over year, the usage on this platform can vary (and even might be seasonal in response to how workplaces hire or promote).

For example, in our January 2023 update, we saw that LinkedIn had 20% more consumers who reported active usage.

Overall, this data aligns pretty closely with data we’ve seen from App Stores, platform analytics firms, and reports directly from the respective platforms.

4. Social search and generative AI are disrupting traditional search engines.

While there’s no denying search engines are still dominant, social search is growing in popularity, especially among Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X.

Not only do 32% of consumers turn to social media to search for answers to their questions, but nearly one third of 18 to 54-year-olds prefer to search on social media over search engines.

Between search engines, social search, and AI, consumers still say search engines are the most effective way to get their questions answered.

Ultimately, while social search and generative AI are becoming more popular, traditional search isn’t going anywhere just yet.

U.S. Consumer Trends Report

Learn how consumers act, how they think, and what they expect now and beyond. Topics include:

• Purchase habits.
• Data privacy.
• Workplace trends.
• And more!

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You're all set!

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Budgeting Trends

5. Consumers are tightening recession budgets.

Of consumers, 57% think the U.S. is currently in a recession, and 55% are tightening their budgets in response. About half (47%) of U.S. adults have taken steps to plan or prepare for a recession.

Additionally, 42% of consumers expect the recession to last for over a year.

6. Consumers continue to fear layoffs and recession impacts.

Although many companies will save thousands, or even millions, on reducing office space and facilities costs with hybrid and remote work, half of consumers are still rightly concerned about being laid off from their current jobs.

For marketers, earlier research from 2023 showed that their departments were already working with less resourcing, headcount, and budget than in past years. As some industries are still seeing the brunt of economic trends, this has likely continued.

Many also worry that AI — the very tool that streamlines their busy work — could take over their work entirely.

At HubSpot, we think AI should be used as a tool to help employees cut out busy work and drive results, not as a means to save money by cutting staff. And, heads of other AI platforms, like Jasper.AI, agree.

Still, it’s understandable to worry about what the combination of AI and economics could do to job security. After all, most employees we’ve surveyed compare AI to a modern-day Industrial Revolution.

If you’re concerned about your role, zone in on skills AI can’t replace — like critical thinking. Meanwhile, use AI to give you and your team more time to earn a high-performance track record.

This way, if your role does shift or dissolve, you’ll be able to pivot and adapt to change.

Data Privacy Trends

7. Data privacy as a human right.

Of consumers, 75% say data privacy is a human right. And it really is — especially nowadays when our personal information is more vulnerable and available than ever.

Thankfully, both legislation and tech are continually improving to ensure our data remains private and secure on the Internet.

8. Customers need trust.

Not only are 76% of consumers worried about how companies use their personal data, but 72% say they’re more likely to buy from companies they trust with it.

Also, 71% of people say their trust in a company impacts their decision to share personal information.

Pro tip: I recently watched a great YouTube video about consumer trends by Rabeea Hasan, ex-brand manager at P&G. Rabeea advises brands to use hyper-personalization in marketing and be transparent about data practices if they want to earn customer trust.

9. Customers want to have control over data.

We asked what would make consumers more comfortable sharing data with companies, and it comes down to transparency, security, and ownership.

Of consumers, 75% want to be in control of what’s happening with the information they provide — what data is collected, how it’s used, and with whom it’s shared.

10. “Pay to get my personal information.”

Of people surveyed, 37% strongly agree (+ 25% somewhat agree) that companies should pay for access to their data. On the other hand, only 3% of respondents completely disagree with that.

However, let’s consider that personal data like purchase history, browsing habits, and location can be incredibly valuable for ads, new products, and market research. Paying for such “golden info” apparently makes sense, right?

Overall, this is a complex issue with no easy answers. Every company should strive to find a balance between user privacy, data value, and fair compensation.

11. CEOs influencing customers’ decisions.

Of consumers, 48% say the owner/CEO of a company influences their decision to share data.

The CEO’s actions and statements can shape how the public perceives the company’s data practices. A CEO “popular” for privacy scandals could make people wary of sharing their information.

On the bright side, a CEO with a reputation for ethical business practices could inspire confidence.

12. No data sharing with third parties.

40% of customers do not want their data to be shared with third parties under any circumstances.

Also, nearly half (42%) of customers expect you to be able to delete their data entirely if they decide they no longer want you to have it.

13. 50% of consumers don’t allow data tracking.

Companies have a lot of work to do to build that trust, with half of U.S. adults saying they usually decline to have their personal data tracked.

Just 17% usually allow their data to be tracked, while 33% say it depends on the company.

Ultimately, embracing today’s privacy-first world will be positive for your brand perception — and most importantly — for customer trust and safety.

In a recent post, our CMO, Kipp Bodnar, explains why data privacy is far from just a passing fad:

14. Consumers increasingly support brands committed to social issues.

Companies taking a stance on social issues has grown more important and influential on consumers’ purchasing decisions, with 51% of U.S. adults saying brands should do more regarding social advocacy.

Affordable healthcare, income inequality, climate change, and racial justice are the most important issues respondents want to see companies take a stance on.

For Gen Z specifically, affordable healthcare, racial justice, and climate change are the most important issues.

Compared to last summer’s Consumer Trends results, respondents increasingly support brands committed to diversity and inclusion, as well as small businesses.

15. More consumers support small businesses.

52% of consumers say a product being made by a small business makes them more likely to purchase, while 46% have chosen to buy a product because it was made by a small business (both up 18% from last year).

Consumer Behavior Trends

16. Consumers still want human support.

There are two main ways customers prefer to get help — with a human agent or by themselves.

Interestingly, 72% of people still prefer talking to a real person when they need assistance. This shows a desire for the “human touch” in customer service.

On the other hand, 28% of consumers would rather solve problems on their own.

For instance, I prefer tackling challenges solo, especially when sites lay out clear instructions.

But when things get tricky, a human touch is the way to go.

U.S. Consumer Trends Report

Learn how consumers act, how they think, and what they expect now and beyond. Topics include:

• Purchase habits.
• Data privacy.
• Workplace trends.
• And more!

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17. People mainly use social media to stay connected with family & friends.

Even though we all hop on social media for fun, here’s a cool trend: About 61% of people mostly use it to stay connected with loved ones.

Meta definitely wins in this field with over one billion monthly active users on Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.

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I really love this trend — it shows that, above all else, social media is all about keeping those personal connections strong.

18. Mobile phones remain a favorite for Googling.

When it comes to Googling, consumers clearly favor their mobile phones, with a whopping 63% choosing them over computers and tablets.

While only 26% opt for laptops or computers, Boomers emerge as the champions, with 41% still preferring desktop searching.

19. Many consumers consider themselves “creators.”

When looking at our survey results for the question, “Would you consider yourself a creator?” we found that 46% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 50% of 25- to 34-year-olds call themselves content creators.

What's great for brands here? Your very own audiences might jump at the chance to create content for you, which could, in turn, help them build online influence.

But what exactly IS a “creator”? Check out this deep dive by Caroline Forsey to learn more: If Everyone's a Content Creator, Is Anyone?

Consumer Buying Trends

20. Consumers mostly trust Facebook shopping.

Many social media users have made purchases directly within social media apps in the past three months.

For example, 46% of respondents have used Instagram for in-app purchases, 58% used Facebook, and 51% TikTok.

Also, a huge 47% of respondents said they feel comfortable making purchases directly on social media.

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When it comes to trust, Facebook leads the pack, with 37% of respondents expressing complete trust in it. Boomers are the biggest fans of Facebook shopping — 42% buy directly from the platform.

This trend showcases the increasing integration of shopping features within SM platforms, which is definitely great. Because, let’s be honest, we’ll all buy more stuff if we don’t need to leave the app (the laziest generation so far?).

21. Many consumers trust influencers.

About 21% of our 700 respondents are swiping their credit cards based on influencer recommendations — millennials are winners here, with 36% saying that influencers are really influencing their purchasing decisions.

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This is especially true for the influencers they really love, have followed for a long time, and trust.

I’ll be the first to admit guilt here because I simply can’t resist buying products recommended by my favorite SM personalities, such as Zach King. 😎

22. Stores and online retailers aren’t going away despite the growth of social commerce.

In January 2024, 64% of consumers preferred to purchase a product in-store, while 50% preferred to purchase through an online retailer selling a variety of brands (e.g., Amazon.com).

Take Pink Tag Boutique, for example. The Kentucky-based clothing and accessories business saw immense growth in Facebook shops.

They attribute $44,448 in incremental sales from the tool and have seen 66% greater average order value from social commerce buyers compared to those who bought directly from the company site.

For more examples of brands that are already excelling in social commerce, check out this post.

You can also find more shopping trend data in this follow-up report from Caroline Forsey: The Shopping Trends of 2024 & Beyond [State of Consumer Trends Data]

23. Consumers have high expectations that products will match descriptions/depictions.

When they buy stuff straight from social media, 53% of people believe that it will be just as described. This statistic shows how much trust we put in these shopping platforms.

That's why sellers should be more careful when describing items and not make them look better than they actually are because 45% of shoppers expect a refund.

24. Consumers cut back on non-essential spending.

Of respondents, 45% are spending less money on non-essential items and focusing only on purchases critical for survival or well-being.

There's also a big demand for long-lasting products. When people buy something, they want it to endure and not have to be replaced soon after.

“Here‘s a major cost of living crisis, and people value quality over quantity. They’re moving away from cheap, disposable products and looking for higher-quality, longer-lasting items, even if they're slightly more expensive. Brands should focus on developing higher-quality products with timeless designs to attract customers.”

– Rabeea Hasan, Brand Manager

Consumer Work Trends

25. Many people will leave their jobs because the pay is not competitive enough.

The main reason most people are considering leaving their jobs is non-competitive pay.

Specifically, 38% of individuals are thinking about making a change, with Gen X leading the pack at 48%.

Honestly, I’m glad to see this trend increasing because people, more than ever, recognize the value of their work and, more importantly — the time they invest, which needs to be fairly paid.

26. Almost 50% of employees are not worried about losing their job.

A surprising trend has emerged in job security concerns.

Approximately 18% of full-time employees are very concerned about being laid off, while 33% are somewhat concerned.

But here’s something interesting — a good chunk, about 27%, aren’t very worried, and 22% aren’t worried at all.

This confidence might come from a strong skill set, high demand in their field, or feeling super secure in their company’s position.

27. People want flexible & remote work.

Our survey highlights how much remote work matters to people nowadays.

Can you believe that 11% of respondents said they’d think about leaving their jobs if remote work wasn’t on the table? It shows just how important flexibility and work–life balance are to folks.

What’s even more surprising is that the lack of flexible work options is immediately behind burnout as a reason to leave.

To the question “Would you consider leaving your job if your company made you go into the office 5 days a week?” 42% said yes!

It’s a clear sign that companies need to take flexible and remote work seriously.

28. Company culture matters.

Not only do consumers need to see flexibility to stay loyal to employers, but they also need to see efforts made to build a positive and healthy company culture.

A whopping 65% of employees say it’s important that the company they work for has a diverse and inclusive culture.

And it makes sense. As more people are asked to go back to the office, even part-time, they’re more heavily putting their work experiences into perspective.

After all, why would you want to return to an office associated with negativity, unnecessary stress, non-inclusive siloes, or lack of psychological safety?

If poor culture, flexible work, or other negative things like overwork, lack of upward motion, or poor recognition of good performance aren’t handled, teams may run into a trend some leaders fear — quiet quitting.

At this point, one-third of employees surveyed are actively doing it — still on par with our research from the past year.

U.S. Consumer Trends Report

Learn how consumers act, how they think, and what they expect now and beyond. Topics include:

• Purchase habits.
• Data privacy.
• Workplace trends.
• And more!

Download the Report Learn more

Download Free

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You're all set!

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Trends Discovered in January 2023

While the list above reflects data from our most recent consumer pulse checks in early 2024, below you’ll find highlights (which still could impact marketers) from an earlier survey one year prior.

1. Consumers are investing less money into virtual worlds, items, and currencies.

Despite the waning hype around the metaverse, attitudes haven‘t changed much over the past year. Both May and January’s surveys found only 8% of U.S. adults have ever visited a metaverse.

Public opinion on the metaverse has improved slightly over the past nine months. Of consumers, 36% now say the metaverse is the future of technology. And 33% say the metaverse is an extension of reality.

However, investments in virtual currencies have seen a decline. In fact, among those who‘ve ever visited a metaverse, only 50% reported buying cryptocurrency in January 2023 — which is a 35% decrease since May 2022.

Additionally, 60% of metaverse visitors reported buying NFTs in January 2023 ... 13% lower than May’s respondents.

The decrease in purchasing virtual currencies might have to do with today‘s economic landscape. If people are generally more conservative with their spending, this could trickle into the virtual atmosphere, as well.

However, it’s important to take note of the decrease as a potential signifier that virtual currency isn't as popular as it was in 2022.

2. Gen X and Boomers are warming up to social media product discovery.

In January 2023, we found that 46% of Gen X and 24% of Boomers had discovered a new product on social media in the past three months — that's a 10% and 41% increase since May 2022, respectively.

All of which is to say: Continuing to invest in social media marketing as an opportunity for product discovery is a good idea to keep up in 2024.

3. Gen Z increasingly differentiates itself from others.

One of the most fascinating things to dig into when looking at survey results were the vast differences between Gen Z and other age groups — including their closest predecessor, Millennials.

When taking a deeper dive into our generation-by-generation data, we found that Gen Z:

• When it comes to shopping, generations are highly influenced by price, quality, and product reviews. Gen Z especially values brands that have active communities around them.
• TikTok and Instagram are the most used social media apps among Gen Z women, while men spend much more time on YouTube.
• Gen Z is all about YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Not only for social networking and entertainment but also for discovering (and buying) products.

The findings above weren't the only interesting points to call out. Our lead researcher and analyst, Maxwell Iskiev, explores the differences between how all age groups shop and discover products with this follow-up guide:

How Each Generation Shops in 2024 [New Data from Our State of Consumer Trends Report]

4. Some consumers are stepping into Web3, but most don't even know what it is.

While some consumers, especially those in younger generations like Gen Z and Millennials, are ready to throw their whole wallet into the metaverse and cryptocurrency, most are still getting their first taste of the Web3 world.

While Web3 experts believe this technology will continue to grow in the coming years, businesses don’t need to pivot their whole strategy to get ahead of it right this second.

However, as the technology gets more prominent and accessible, it’s still helpful to learn about the potential opportunities and risks of the Web3 space.

That's why Caroline Forsey interviewed a handful of Web3 experts to learn more about how it could impact how consumers use the world wide web in the future.

Here is a quick, overarching summary of what Web3 could mean for future internet usage from Anna Seacat, VP of Marketing and Web3 Community at Proxy:

While Web3 might be a new concept to many, expect to hear more about it as the technology becomes more accessible to consumers and businesses in the coming years.

For more expert predictions around this, hear what our CMO Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan, our SVP of Marketing, have to say about it in this episode of Marketing Against the Grain.

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The last version of the internet, your whole job was to make a product ten times better than it was before in the next generation of the internet it is making something somebody thought was impossible.Possible, come on did you ever think it was going to be possible to get paid to exercise?That is a massive societal change.

0:18

Exactly.And if you're a marketer and you can make that change in the little part of the world that you're involved with sooner rather than later, that is a bit unfair, competitive advantage that will last for years.Hey, everyone and welcome to a brand new episode of marketing Against the Grain, your weekly marketing podcast, where we take you behind the scenes to tell you the truth to teach you, the things that nobody else would dare to teach you.

0:45

I am your co-host kit Wagner CMO here at HubSpot.I am joined as always by my co-host and partner in podcasting Kieran Flanagan SVP of marketing.What's up Kiran?Welcome to the show listeners, excited to be here.Kip, I want to start this episode with three words and to gauge your reaction.

1:05

Okay, you ready, please.I'm very interested in this love is blind.Do you know what I'm talking about?I believe you're talking about an outrageous Netflix show.Yes, that was my last weekend.If anyone wants to watch extremely addictive but trashy TV go check out love is blind.

1:23

I don't know if you've watched it, I can give you a synopsis of what happens if you want.I've read synopses on Twitter enough.To feel like I've watched it and I know people are really irrational reacting to basically people doing really stupid things on that show.Is that the gist.You know, it's a very emotional roller coaster kept that you go on with these covenants and they meet each other in boxes.

1:47

They can't see each other.They decide to get married after a week.Actually, it's a whole marriage where you can get married to get divorced near enough.Oh, then the full month, which is a great way to do it, right?We want we want everything to be faster.Why not just accelerate Entire process.This is the thing, right?Our society is speeding up speeding up speeding up.

2:03

Maybe there are some things that shouldn't speed up, maybe like, like, lifelong commitment and love.Maybe we can take a couple months, you know, I mean, call me a hopeless romantic but seems a little aggressive but I have not watched Love is Blind care and I have been watching after party on Apple Plus which is an awesome murder-mystery show.

2:24

But apparently going to have to catch up on love is blind so I can fit in with everyone on the and we can talk about it.On the next show.The other thing I wanted to start with absolutely.Was it quick?I will tell you why I'm doing this, a quick Round of Applause and that is for LinkedIn, joining us in the podcast Network game, welcome Linked In The Waters.

2:45

Warm, come on in.Hmm, I wonder where that idea came from.Just to be clear.We were really one of the first company owned business podcast networks.We how have what north of 7 million, listeners, listening every month and it's been a huge success, so it's fun.You know, let's let's compete.

3:01

Competition is good.Yeah, so LinkedIn launch the podcast Network.I thought that was cool news.I thought one of the interesting things is they we can maybe hash this out tonight for an error because I was gonna tell you, but if, but it's do it is they actually have sponsors.I noticed that you were IBM, sponsoring, the LinkedIn podcast Network, really linked, it kind of interesting and I thought it was pretty sure it's cited a LinkedIn.

3:21

If you're gonna start a podcast Network that do it to be the best and biggest podcast Network in the world, right?Don't underwrite it with sponsors your LinkedIn.You're not like cash.And it just shows that it's not that big of a priority for them, right?And the opportunity is to not make money on that podcast Network, its to have massive influence over your community and mobilize your community to new products and new features and everything else longer term.

3:43

So, I don't love this monster strategy, candidly and makes it look a little bit.Not, I wouldn't say tacky but just not as legit as I think they could have made it.The other thing I will jump into because it's related and I'll give you the floor.Then, is I love this from YouTube that they give To podcast creators to create a video version of the show.

4:03

Like, 300K.We talked about this before, the best startup to be part of is a startup that has inbuilt distribution.Actually, if I was looking for a roll today and I was like, oh like I have all of these roles.I have choice.I would categorize them by the distribution upside.

4:18

Like, where can I see clear, distribution, upset, and choose and prioritize those companies and YouTube can win podcasts.Yes.Because it actually has a better distribution engine than Apple.Spotify, any of these other platforms for podcasts, which to search because of the death of most podcast.

4:35

Is there a zero long tail Equity?You listen to her show and then it disappears.YouTube would search has all of that equity and I curious to get your opinion on what you think about that, move by YouTube.And what do you think the long-term plan here?Here, it's for a podcast cured.

4:50

I'm fasting about what you just said.I want to break it down a little bit more for the listeners for even go down this.If you think about this first segment of the show cure and is Droppin some knowledge on YouTube and its advantage of the podcast based.The reason for that is YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world after Google.And if your business and you've got a podcast or if you're an individual, you've got a podcast.

5:10

Basically, how you attract people is through word of mouth and people knowing about the name of your show and looking for the name of your show, listening subscribing because they basically have that branded search term.They know what your Stroh is called, what it's about there's very little traffic comes from people, looking for topics, right?

5:29

That they want to.Just listen to a bunch of different podcasts on and that latter part is what YouTube Nails, right?You can.Look at specific topics, specific guests, much better YouTube search, then you can on Spotify search or a podcast search because those traditional podcast platforms are anchored around the hosts and the name of the show versus the content of the show itself.

5:52

And I think we're going to move to world longer-term, where the content is more important or just as important as the host.And so that means if you are a Mr. Individual doing a podcast, you can't ignore YouTube.And the fact that YouTube is now going to start giving you money to make a version of your show, which takes some of the video production and editing expense away, that is just a no-brainer because then you're going to see growth.

6:14

And that growth is going to allow you to fund better and better investment.Yeah, into the work you're doing on YouTube.So I think is a huge opportunity for creators and I think we're going to see the rise of podcasting on YouTube really take off over the next 12 to 18 months.The thing that I think that most podcast Discovery engines This is one of the big ways that you can get people into different podcast is through related podcasts.

6:34

Like you like this thing, you probably like these other things, which is what large proportion of your traffic and YouTube will come from related videos.Some of it will come from search but a lot of it actually comes from recommended videos and all podcast Discovery engines are predicated on here.Our other podcasts you like because you listen to this podcast, they all miss out on here.

6:51

Other podcast you like cuz you enjoyed this guest.Yes.Right.And I think you two can do those things much much better.It shows you that audio as a format podcast.Killer still has a tons of Discovery problems.And so when you're thinking about your marketing strategy, thinking about the stories you're trying to tell audio is a powerful tool with deep engagement.

7:09

But while there's still some underlying flaws and the infrastructure and how people experience and discover audio stories.Today I have a third that you're going to like but I'm going to give you the floor.I'm going to see what piqued your interest over the past week.All right.So everyone listen to this episode, I wanted to do a very special episode that I'm calling the Either sewed, I wanted to take the best and brightest from Twitter, and instead of having a guest, I wanted to talk about fascinating things from Twitter that will tilt.

7:41

Everybody's listening perspective on growth.So, first things first, Karen, I got a good one for you.There's a gentleman named Pat Grady.Pat Grady is a partner at Sequoia Capital.He is an awesome person.Super, super smart human being, he just celebrated his 15th year anniversary at Sequoia.

7:57

He was the Sequoia partner that invested in Spot many, many years ago and he did pretty awesome Twitter thread Karen.It's interesting for a few reasons.One, did you see this?Yeah, I don't think I saw that.I saw a sequoia partner and the guy from Bolt going on each other, but I think this is different.This is different.

8:13

So, Pat posted a thread of 15 lessons from his 15 years at Sequoia.Hmm, very interesting.Where Pat has worked with the highest growth.Some of the most successful companies ever one other thing that's interesting, he recorded three to four minute Loom videos for each lesson in his threat.

8:29

That's very cool.Cool, which I hadn't seen before.I appreciated the depth.If you are thinking about your Twitter strategy audience and you're thinking about how you're going to really stand out and add some depth, I like the tactic that Pat gave us there, but so I read through, I watch the videos.There are certainly interesting things.The story that really kind of stood out to me was the story you shared about Frank's luqman, who is now the CEO of snowflake was previously the CEO of service.

8:54

Now to hugely successful technology companies and the lesson he cited from Frank was go to the extremes and he told a story of Frank in a board meeting and the partner from Sequoia providing feedback to Frank and Frank just saying, you know, thanks for that.

9:11

But I want you to know how I see the world.My job as a CEO is to build the strategy and grow the business.If I can't do that, your job is, the board is to fire me.And it was basically the nicest way, ever saying like, leave me alone, like I am defining the rules of the road.

9:29

Yeah, this is why I'm here this is why you're here, you know, don't try to be the CEO.I'm going to try to be the CEO but I think it was a really clear interesting lesson in moving to like extreme extreme Clarity.And you know in marketing what normally happens is marketers try to solve for multiple audiences.

9:49

Both internal and external and the message and the Tactics get muddied right and there isn't that Clarity.And that's where so many of us, go off the rails and I thought that lesson I'm Frank via Pat was really really interesting specifically through the lens of marketing and business growth.

10:05

What do you think?Karen have you seen other people kind of take that extreme mentality and use that effectively?First of all, we'll put that thread in the show notes.If I think a lot of listeners to be curious to read that.Yes, I think Simplicity is underrated and at times we want to overcomplicate things to feel smart.

10:22

The smartest people that I know are able to distill things down into such simple terms, that it It just makes total sense right there.They're able to uncomplicate things and make them very simplistic.And I think to your point in relation to marketing the challenge for a marketer is like, a CEO say not to the board.

10:42

I think they have just a ton of Leverage that what are the Border going to do like, say, hey, you can't tell us things like this.Like, you know, we'd only spoken to like this.The CEO just has a ton of Leverage in that case or not situation.But does it marketer?Does it?See ammo.Are they able to do that to a CEO when it I was the one trying to push them to do a bunch of things that they don't think are the valuable things to do.

11:04

Like, if IMA see you and I said, look, the thing I'm going to do over the next 12 months is, I'm going to change perception of your brand.And here are the core metrics that?I'm going to use and it matters because of these reasons and I'm going to increase the signups of our product by X percent.

11:20

That's it they're the only two things I'm going to do and you can judge me on my success against those two things and I think marketers struggle Cool with that.Well, there's a reason for that Karen.There's a reason for that is because the enemy of clarity is fear.You cannot have Clarity.

11:37

If you've got fear involved, you don't put yourself out there.You don't want to put yourself out there and you don't want to force somebody to make a choice that you're afraid of the answer to, right?Because if you're a marketing leader in, you say that and you're and, you know, in the heart of hearts and in the best, most deep resources of your brain that hey, this is what's the right thing to do is.

11:55

And if I can't focus to do these things, doesn't matter.I'm going to fail, right?And I'd rather You're not waste all my time and go do something else.If like we're not allowed on this, just like fireman will move on.You have to let go of the fear of all I really like this job.Can I get a different job?

12:11

I really like, you know, I really love my team, all the stuff you have to say.This is what is necessary to be successful.And the only way you can do that is if you let go of fear, right?And you know, so fear becomes the enemy of clarity, I think, in Frank's advice around, kind of moving towards these extremes, and it comes back to what you're making a choice on where you think you can add much benefit to To a you company that you may be deciding to leave marketing for.

12:32

There's a skill and being able to tell in a very short period of time, what that company, and what that product needs to be successful from a marketing perspective and then making a decision based upon today fit into your skills.And I was talking to someone actually, who was taken on a CMO rule like maybe three months ago and they were bringing me through the company and I was like oh like what this product is going to need to be successful, is not the thing that you are good at.

12:55

Like I didn't say that at least that person but I was like, yeah.And I I think it's going that well, because there's just a mismatch, I think people who generally do well are great and a couple of areas, and for the most part, I'm on the, the kind of side of sticking to the things you're great at and not not trying to make yourself better at the things.

13:14

You're not great at like, spending so much time and trying to get better at the things that you're not bad.They just stick to the things that make you money.Truth.Preached and just keep making money off those and try to be cognizant of those.And every choice you make well here before we move on, I think there's another interesting thing here.There's a fear around for marketing leaders of kind of putting themselves out there.

13:32

There's also a hesitancy to admit what marketing can't fix like marketing can't fix a bad product, right?Or marketing can't fix a bad pricing model that customers don't feel like they have got the right value proposition, you do the best Marketing in the whole world and it won't matter.It can paper over cracks, you have to have both the business strategy and document, as well as the self-reliance to say, like look, I could do the best job I possibly could and it will matter.

13:56

Right?And so cool.Can we go fix these other more important issues?Where I should just move on.I agree.An average marketer at a company with a killer product makes more money than a killer marketer at a company with a crappy product.Unfortunately, I completely agree.Congrats to Pat, Grady at Pat Grady on Twitter, will drop the Twitter thread in the show notes.

14:13

Really good lessons, I highly recommend you check it out.All of them.I just wanted to drop that particular one for discussion because I thought it was a thought it was an interesting one.All right.Do you want to hear the next?Yes, Witter learning Twitter, sewed.Segment hit me comes to us from Chris can Tonio at Ken Tonio on Twitter he is a venture capitalist investor former startup leader in now big into web three and hit a very simple tweak here in that I want your reaction to he said in web to and and just for every listening web to I think of like the last 10 years of the internet businesses, thought about customer acquisition cost and a web three businesses.

14:54

Think about Community acquisition costs?Mmm.So web three being kind of a next 1020 years of the Your net and how businesses are going to go.And so obviously the thinking about moving from customer acquisition cost to community.Acquisition cost is a big deal.If you're a marketer, do you agree?

15:10

Do you disagree?What's your take?I'm going to go a long winded answer because actually one of the things that I've come prepared with is a ton of things that I knew you would enjoy, which is incentives and web three that are interesting for acquisition.Oh, I love incentives.I think web 3, your metrics do change right, your cost per acquisition changes.

15:29

Was in a lot of times you're incentivizing that group through mechanisms and you have to try to figure out what is my cost in web to leads and things like that.We had a cost per acquisition and freemium, you make the product free.So your cost per acquisition goes down and actually in web three.

15:45

I think your incentives, drastically change that again because you have a flywheel effect for your incentives.And I don't know how it changes.I've been mulling that over a little bit but I do think how you think about acquiring customers Cost to do not is greatly change when you're using these different incentives.

16:03

Through tokens to build your business.I want to get to that in a minute, but so do you agree with him or not?Like, are we going to move for customer acquisition cost to community acquisition well.Okay, so what's the difference between we already have a cost to require a leader Kosta require user Acosta require a customer right?

16:18

And web to what is the difference?What are we saying?Is a Community member, but how do we differentiate Union member?So let me give you, let me give you my interpretation of what he's saying because this is Twitter, right?Put out something big.It's kind of like modern art.You throw out something.If it sticks.

16:34

Everybody has their own interpretation of what it is, you know, and it's platitude until enough that it works.But it's a great for discussion like this.Here's here's my take on it.What is happening in the world?As we've talked a little bit previously on this show is that the reason communities are becoming more important is because going through intermediaries to reach people directly like Google and Facebook is getting way more expensive.

16:57

Hmm.And because you Now properly, and incentivize your community members to share in the success of your business with you.In a way that you couldn't, before through the use of tokens threat of teas, through a whole host of things.And so, if you think about that, then it just becomes an economic proposition to me where, wow, the cost of the old way of doing it is getting so high.

17:20

That one, you can take more risk to do the new way because the old way is becoming untenable and then it's like, cool.Can I take that same amount of money?Incentivize Mike.Community to drive referrals, be Advocates, spread Word of Mouth Drive the brand.And can I factor basically in customer acquisition cost on top of that?

17:38

So my whole thing on all of this is It's never an or it's always an ant, we're not going to give up customer acquisition cost.What we're saying is community acquisition cost is going to be the precursor.We're going to figure out the economics of acquiring people through communities.And that customer acquisition cost is going to be basically an output metric of how effective our community strategy is.

17:59

I Don't know if it's that differentiated for some of the things we already today.Let me give you an example.I'm a product that company, and I have different viral mechanics, within my product, to acquire users, whether that's through usage-based virality, referral base, travaille, reality where incentivize referrals to use it, even be to see products.

18:16

It's happens a lot, right?We incentivize referrals and we already have data models to say, well each user.I acquire acquires X number of additional users and I can cost that how much it takes me to acquire all those users right based upon On certain channels like the web 3D the logic and the mechanics, actually the way you get the data and the way you interpret the data, and how you look at the data is different, but the actual logic to that is no more different in that, I'm acquiring a community of people around my product who I can provide incentives to do self-referrals or referrals and other things like that.

18:47

And I have to cost that I had.My thing is we already do that and web to it's just the we do it really badly at web to I think product companies do it pretty well.I think like they do it.Okay.I think we do it.Okay, then?The thing that went three gives you, it's just way more trackable incentives, yet.

19:05

Tell me what major successful company that, you know, right now that has a really good attributable Community growth model at software company, any company?Well, I don't know of any, I don't know.Like, if you go from a typical B2B SAS company to be to be Prague life company, even just those growth bottles are so differentiated from each other, like, the way you look at the business, the way you look at the different metrics.

19:27

It's so different to each other.Web 3 is like, A whole next step in terms of how we have to to do that.So I agree with him, I just think the there's just so many unknowns in that which is comes back to like how many different ways you can incentivize people today.It's going to be hard.I think over time yeah at to track those in the short to medium term but in the long term I think we're going to have some pretty interesting data models.

19:52

Cool.Okay.I would, a guy want to go on my last finding for the Twitter sewed from by side.It's a few weeks old at this point, but I thought it was really clever.And what I think's in talking to people listening to the show and talk to people about the show, in general, is, they always love a good example.Everybody loves a good example of somebody doing some clever marketing for themselves, and an example that I want to call out is I want to call out Yulia Bell from notice.

20:18

So it's get notice.And OT, you S, .i o.Shout out to them in the team and they're building a software product whose job is to, basically like map influence and use your network to basically do marketing Drive influencer marketing at scale.

20:34

And so for Valentine's Day, she said, hey, anybody who likes this tweet?I will reply back with your Twitter, your Twitter love is basically who the people you engaging the most with on Twitter, top 5.Basically, and it was great because it was low friction, all you do is like like This tweet and she'd reply to, you didn't have to do anything else, it showcase the magic of her product that she could do that and get that back to you.

20:57

So, so quickly, that's cool.It showed you the base level value, proposition it got, I don't even know how many likes thousands of likes a hugely successful Twitter only campaign and I love that it was this perfect line of like got a lot of attention.Got A Lot distribution but also really showcase the core that to value proposition of the tool.

21:17

That's awesome.Yeah it was it was all set me.Give you a really great campaign.Someone You do what you tell me.If you think it's good and you tell me if it sucks.Is all okay, okay, okay, it's really, really simple.I think someone should build an app that allows me to go and choose my favorite nft like just one I really like where it's Degen apes or the crypto Punk's or whatever it may be and upload my profile and it spits back my profile in that kind of design for Twitter because the problem with a NF T is for Twitter and profile pics.

21:45

Now I know that you could say well you're stealing that but you know, you haven't bought the entity but it's not actually the end of T at the profile version your profile.Virginity.Yeah, but I'm, I'm still not.I don't enjoy.And I've teased for Twitter profiles, I want to be able to tell who everyone is.I don't like it ruins my experience, but I think it's kind of cool to do up your profile pic in the form of an mft and get that given back to you.

22:06

Like I could pick Disney apps and someone sends me back me as a d-shaped.Yeah, I would use that service so if anyone wants to build it PS complete sidebar for here tonight and BCC the audience.We should definitely do it episode at some point half Big marketing campaign ideas.

22:22

Yeah, you're going to come with half-baked, right?So like on the surface they may be great war after two minutes of debate, they may be terrible, half-baked marketing campaign ideas coming on a future episode.I don't know.I do, I really want a Twitter theme?

22:38

I didn't think you would like it go.Well, I'm teaming up to your team and I've T differentiation.Yeah, Arcanist differentiation man.Yeah, I don't want to clone somebody else's look.I want my own look.That's, that's the whole Whole game in marketing all these right-click Merchants.Okay, well I would use it, get would not use it.

22:55

Well, any developers listening you have one user, you have?Yeah, you have one user look, you know, the other problem is, it's not a very good app because I'll, you would use it, like, you will use it for free one time.Yeah.So it just felt it was like, I do have somebody.Do it for you on by ever feel like you 50 bucks.I think I'm going to do that.

23:11

So that was look at it so that this week.So you definitely should check my Twitter profile.Very suited to see me a a DJ Dave and then someone will call me after being a right.Click copy merchants and and actually own and It t as a for people who don't know DJ and Abe is an mft project on the Solana, blockchain that care and really loves.

23:27

I like him but he doesn't want to be a degenerate because he wants people to still know that he's cured.And so he wants a cure and version of his profile photo in like a DJ tape style.Exactly.Now, Kip, you're gonna like this one.Okay.Okay, hit me up.Its web three and it's have incentives.

23:43

Could disrupt a brand.That is the predominant brand with an axe based.Oh, let's do this.This was given to me by a Barbie my Barbie as As a lot of great crypto knowledge, if you want to check him out on Twitter, are you going to love this one?So, you know, the app Strava map, my run.Right.

23:58

I'm a big strong user.Yeah.Use it for my hike.So use it to track my pellet awning.Absolutely.So when you sit down a web to were like, how do you disrupt an app that is just so ubiquitous for the thing.It does across the the smartphone, you like a cheese.That's really hard.Really hard.Let me talk you through a great example that Matt and I were talking about web 3, there's an app called stepping and stepping is so dope, right?

24:20

It is Basically, it combines like Fitness with a play their own game.So what they've done is they've built the actual app, like a map, my run or Strava, where you can log in, you can actually do your exercise and attracts you.But the thing you can actually do is you can go and buy an mft within their app so you can buy these different entities, a different kind of sneakers, walk sneaker a jog sneaker, I Run sneaker each nft then comes with ranges that you need to stay within when you are either walking running or jogging but you stay Within those range for each 10 minutes of activity, you earn.

24:53

Thirty dollars through this land of blockchain that to me.People look for canceled examples of why.We have three companies will be able to win and disrupt web to companies that that is an example of a company that actually use using web three mechanics to do something differentiated and better.Right?It's differentiate in better.

25:09

So this is important.This is this is really important that's an awesome example.I'm going to go use the app.I'll take 30 bucks, I love money.I'm gonna bash it in saying that, but this is a really important point.For everybody listening.So I want to slow down a second.So when you're listening to the news or you're on Twitter and people are talking about NF, teas and web three, it seems like really abstract and futuristic and stupid and like it's really easy to like naysay all of it.

25:37

I get that a lot of it is going to be crap in a lot of it's going to fall away but at its core.When you think about the difference between the last generation, the internet in the Next Generation, the internet understand that it is a massive change in incentives.And the ability to incentivize exactly and that the last version of the internet, your whole job was to make a product or value proposition ten times better than it was before in the next generation of the internet, it is making something somebody thought was impossible possible.

26:07

Mmm did you ever think it was going to be possible to get paid to exercise?Exactly.That's what you just said.Yes, somebody gets paid to exercise, exactly.Do you know how, how much of a massive impact that has on Humanity?If you pay people to exercise, You want it does the hospitalization rates, insurance rates, all of those things, it makes something that you thought was impossible possible.

26:29

And if you can't pull that magic trick out as a business, over the next 10, 20, 30 years you're not going to exist.Yeah, because that is the game that is going to change.Don't think about the technology, think about the change in customer experience and that move from impossible to possible is that change, right?

26:45

So, I think in the future really understanding incentives is Going to be a marketer's core skill set to acquire customers within the future, right?Really understanding how to install to incentivize your community.And so I went down a rabbit hole as always kept.

27:01

I didn't just stop it and go, that was cool.That's a real good example of an app incentivizes and and how you could actually disrupt these players and do great marketing to get people using your app versus these apps.I went into other incentives, that are cool for marketers to know about, I want to run some of these bio.Please learn earn.

27:17

So let me bring the listeners through learn Exchange.Use Learn to Earn to get you to actually use the exchange and start to trade coins.And if you do those things and complete exercises, they will actually deposit free coins into your account, what a great incentive to get someone to actually start to use your product.

27:33

There are other sites out there.I think rabbit hole is an example of a site that aggregate all these tutorials together.And the reason they're doing that is they're acquiring traffic to their site and then they're able to get Brands to pay the money to run these tutorials through their site to promote those products.And those Brands actually give people free.

27:50

Coins to start to learn about their products, use their products.So I think Learn to Earn is another example of, in the future.You could go from the impossible to the possible, which is, I could incentivize people within a freemium product to do the core actions that I know, translate to that person, probably becoming a customer probably to retain it better, and I can incentivize them through a token.

28:15

And again, I think it's just a really clever.It would be a really clever incentive in the future to actually help.People to learn use your product and incentivize Community around that product.Look again, people right now we're going into debt for education in the world.We live in right now.We're going to move to a world where you get paid to learn like that is a massive societal change and if you're a marketer and you can make that change in the little part of the world that you're involved with sooner rather than later.

28:43

That is, it unfair, competitive advantage that will last for years, right?You know, like, one of the very first pay to learn companies was what was called, Called 21 Co and it got acquired by coin basis really early in the crypto space and you would take quizzes surveys different things and they pay you a Bitcoin and like this was maybe five six years ago I probably have like a thousand dollars in Bitcoin now just because Bitcoin was cheap then I did some stuff you know from that and that is like a game changer Game Changer of a value proposition there that people just don't know is going to be commonplace in the world.

29:18

A decade to 15 years from now, right?And And stop there.It's a media.Like, there's a company called publish 0x.It's an online news portal, its shares all of its adrift newer, some of its ad Revenue would readers and authors.So like leaders can tip the author's through the coin authors, get rewarded through the coin.

29:36

Bank list is another company.We've talked about before in the show that we want to get, we're gonna have them on the show.I'm gonna get them on the show.We're going to talk to the bank list folks.They're doing some really smart stuff.Thanks actually combines the incentives with a dow to get decentralized media, but let me let me end with one.That I thought was kind of interesting because I've seen the media.You want.I've seen the Learn to Earn and we'll cover a bunch of this and more in depth.

29:55

We're going to talk some web three founders on this show, but there's a coupon kept called lunar Crush.It's a social intelligence for a crypto, collects activity, across social media, for Bitcoin, all these out coins and other influencers are posting and then tries to give you the data to show you like here are some of the popular coins.

30:11

Here's what people are posting about, what they did was they give out their own token.For people who stayed on their website for a consistent amount of time, my God.Hell yeah.Santa visit you to navigate the website stay on the website and still like content was the kind of lever for web to B2B companies.

30:29

Virality was the lever for product LED growth companies.Incentives are going to be the lever for web three companies right that is the thing to learn.If you are a marketer content, yes, virality and incentives because that's how you're going to grow your business across those different models, the money you pay, Google and Facebook.

30:49

Now you're going to move to incentives for your community and it's going to change the game.Because data privacy is getting harder tracking, is getting harder.Add costs are getting more expensive, the friction to changing and taking that risk, it's just much lower and right to cut a close us out for this episode.

31:06

If you are a marketer after you listen to this, you're like, what the hell are these two people talking about?What we're talking about is, you know, what you want people to do.And you are used to paying a third party or an employee to To get them to do the thing.

31:21

You want a new Option has come.You can pay the person directly to do the thing that you want them to do.Exactly.That's it.That's all you need to know there's a bunch of different ways to do that.We're going to talk about it in a lot of future episode Karen.I think we should commit to bring on a great crypto and insitive 100% expert on to talk about this.

31:40

But I think if you're thinking about your long-term strategy, both career and business incentives are going to have to be at the Forefront, can I end the show with a shoutout to Google?Yes.Just what I did.Please shout out to shout at Google who realized that forcing people to come into their offices to bounce around on the bouncy balls and play ping-pong and have the free food.

32:03

Does not beat people, not having to commute and saving time.So they're moving to a full hybrid model in April.The 4th people don't want to go back to offices, full-time, folks don't try to make them, it's not going to work.Well, the all the whole op going back to work, debate is a great example for everybody listening.

32:19

And for the marketers out there, Most companies that are doing that is because they have committed Capital, they're like, hey I've got all this money for these offices and these amenities and everything, I need people to use them.And if that's the case, you're letting the, the p&l Wag the Dog more than like the worker experience, customer experience, Wag the tail of the dog, and that's in those companies going to get disrupted.

32:39

So shout out to any company who understands that we went through a really traumatic period of time.That is then going to change how everybody works.Huge.Shout out to Katie and the the whole team at HubSpot on the people upside who have done Yes, an amazing job leading any chance to do so.So round of applause for them.Karen, I liked our Twitter episode today.

32:56

I love it was a lot of fun.It was a nice little detour.We hit some highlights.We hit some lowlights.You had a bad idea like not too good, lots of good things happen here.So, half-baked ideas is really the one that I want to thank marketing campaigns.

33:11

We have to come on it.In the next month, we're going to do half baked marketing campaign, how fake you.And I are each gonna bring know five to ten half-baked marketing.Hands.And we're going to go, we're gonna go through the best ones.For everybody to make fun of.Let's do it.And until next time everyone, I will see you on the next episode of marketing Against the Grain with a fun facts.

33:32

Fantastic guests and everything else in between.Thanks everybody have a good week.

For more insights, check out these guides:

• How Web3 Technology Will Impact Consumer Trends [Expert Insights]
• How Businesses Could Shift in Web 3 [Executive Insights & Podcast]
• Everything Brands Need to Know About the Metaverse

5. Consumers crave video, and effective brands are taking notice.

By now, you know that video has played a powerful role in the lives of consumers.

Not only do consumers stream more video than ever, but year-over-year, HubSpot researchers find that most brands consider it to be their most effective type of marketing content.

But, not just any video will result in a conversion, purchase, or view. While you don‘t need a huge budget to woo your audiences, you will need to create content they’ll actually enjoy, keep their attention on, and be persuaded by.

In fact, 69% of our January 2023 respondents say it is more important that a marketing video be authentic and relatable than polished with high-quality video/audio.

This video interview and post from Wistia CEO, Chris Savage, goes into great detail on his tips for leveraging video to humanize your brand.

For more information on how marketers benefited from video in 2023, check out our 2023 Video Marketing Report.

What's Next for Consumers, According to Trend Analysts

Now that you’ve read through the biggest findings of our Consumer Trends Report, you might also be asking, “What trends and themes could come in the next six months — or beyond?”

To give you a taste of just a few trends to keep on your radar, we reached out to Julia Janks of Trends.co to learn what she and her team of trend analysts will be focusing on. Here are three of the nine trends they're keeping on their radar.

1. Gifting strategies could catch the eyes of consumers.

Forget loyalty points — gifting is the new customer retention strategy. As remote everything continues to rise, keeping connected to clients and loved ones will be key.

For instance, after starting a gifting program, &Open clients saw sales go up by as much as 20% from existing customers in just three months.

Also, when they gave thoughtful gifts to employees, HR leaders noticed that their Employee Engagement scores and customer satisfaction ratings improved a lot.

Image Source

2. Voice search and audio SEO opportunities will grow.

The world of podcasts is growing faster than the entire internet did in the early 2000s. Spotify alone now hosts 6 million+ podcasts!

3. Consumers will visit pop-up shops — in the metaverse.

Pop-up shops in the metaverse are a thing now. And, brands like Roblox & Walmart are already testing them out and gaining more and more popularity this way.

Walmart‘s new venture, Walmart Discovered, is shaking up the world of digital retail by selling real-world products in the Roblox metaverse.

This move is significant for three reasons — Walmart’s clout, Roblox‘s massive user base, and Walmart’s curated product selection tailored for the metaverse.

We could see the metaverse shopping industry continue to grow with consumer interest, as 30% of consumers HubSpot surveyed think more brands should consider virtual stores.

Dive Deeper Into Consumer Trends

In the post above, I gave just a few highlights of our State of Consumer Trends Survey, as well as predictions for what's to come. To learn more interesting themes, check out these follow-up posts:

• The Way People Search the Web is Changing: 4 Findings to Know

• The Top Shopping Trends of 2023 [State of Consumer Trends Data]

• The Top Channels Consumers Use to Learn about Products [New Data]

• How Each Generation Shops in 2023 [State of Consumer Trends Data]

• 9 Things Our Trends Team Will be Following in the Next 6 Months & Beyond

• How Web3 Will Impact the Future of Consumer Trends [Expert Insights]

Want to see how data has changed since 2023? Click below to download the full findings of that survey in our State of Consumer Trends Report.

Consumer Trends Post Authors