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The digital marketing landscape is always evolving, and it moves at a rapid pace. One standout development has been the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2023, a trend that continues to reshape every facet of marketing. However, as Rand Fishkin points out, AI is just one of many challenges marketers face today.

Marketing also continues to shift with changing consumer behavior and the broader economic environment. While global growth may be modest and inflation likely to stabilize, according to the OECD, consumers are expected to remain cost-conscious. Additionally, there’s a growing demand for brands that demonstrate social responsibility, focusing on making a positive impact, not just on their profits.

To succeed in 2024, it’s crucial to understand the trends ahead. With the right knowledge, you can plan, strategize, and get ahead of the competition.

In this article, we’ll explore the key digital marketing trends for 2024, as shared by global experts at the Digital Marketing Institute:

1. AI’s Role in Marketing: Understanding how AI shapes strategy, adapts through self-learning, demands new skills, and fosters co-creation between marketers and technology.

2. Social Media: The rise of Instagram Threads, the growing importance of LinkedIn, and the expanding role of AI in social platforms.

3. SEO: Preparing for Google’s AI-driven updates, emphasizing valuable, shareable content, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), and user experience.

4. PPC: Google Ads encourages viewing AI as an assistant, and warns against unnecessary campaign changes suggested by Google reps.

5. Digital Marketing Strategy: Increased focus on data privacy, sustainability, and responsible marketing practices.

6. Career Insights: 2024 will be an employers’ market in digital marketing. While AI won’t replace jobs, professionals with AI skills will be in high demand.

1. Social Media Trends

Social media platforms are in a constant battle for consumers’ attention, requiring us to regularly reassess how success is measured.

As ongoing controversies with X (formerly Twitter) create uncertainty, new platforms like Instagram Threads and Bluesky are gaining traction, while other networks may also seize the opportunity to attract more organic traffic and expand their reach.

Expert tip:  Avoid focusing too much on using Threads to drive traffic to your website. That’s not the platform’s primary goal. Threads is all about in-platform conversations and discussions that encourage user engagement. Brands like Canva, TedTalks, and Channel 4 are finding success by asking questions and sparking discussions—this is what Threads users are looking for at the moment.

In recent years, marketers have seen the engagement rate on organic social media activity decline. While there are many reasons for this – content quality, time of day, device – people may shift away from engagement to focus on retention in 2024.

“People will be reporting much more on retention rate than ever before. And with attention being the world’s most valuable commodity, users are presented with more choice than ever before,” says Battisby.

To combat this, brands have been creating fantastic social media campaigns built around entertaining, educating, and informing audiences. The key is to drive engagement by being playful and creative.

Battisby believes that social media platforms are looking to enable this by testing longer-form videos – for example, TikTok is testing 15-minute-long uploads with some users – and focusing more on how brands not only engage their audiences but retain viewers.

Expert tip: TikTok has a new analytics option for Reels, where you can look at your audience retention rates, watch time, and content replay.

In recent years, marketers have noticed a decline in engagement rates on organic social media posts. This can be attributed to several factors, including content quality, timing, and device usage. As we move into 2024, the focus may shift from just driving engagement to prioritizing retention.

“Marketers will place much more emphasis on retention rates. With attention being the world’s most valuable resource, users now have more choices than ever,” says Battisby.

To adapt, brands have been designing social media campaigns that focus on entertaining, educating, and informing their audience. The key is to boost engagement by being creative and playful.

Battisby believes social media platforms are supporting this shift by experimenting with longer-form content. For instance, TikTok is testing 15-minute video uploads with certain users and is focusing more on how brands can not only engage but also retain viewers.

Expert tip: TikTok now offers new analytics for Reels, where you can track audience retention, watch time, and content replay rates.

LinkedIn has recently reached a milestone of one billion members worldwide, a far cry from its early days as just a platform to upload your resume and search for jobs!

In 2024, the platform is experiencing a significant rise in organic engagement—something increasingly rare across social media channels today.

The key to LinkedIn’s continued success lies in its commitment to its original mission. Luan Wise, a Social Media Marketing Consultant & Author, believes LinkedIn has stayed true to its purpose of creating economic opportunities for professionals and maintaining its role as a business-to-business networking platform.

“LinkedIn is no longer just a place for resumes. It’s an invaluable business networking tool, and the importance of these networks has never been greater in terms of how people connect and collaborate,” said Wise during a recent DMI podcast.

When using LinkedIn for networking, Wise encourages users to be clear about their goals: Who do you want to engage with? Do you want to connect with them? Can they add value to you, and can you offer value to them?

When posting on LinkedIn, Wise advises being intentional with your comments and shares. “Think about generating engagement that adds meaningful value to you and everyone in your network. Sure, occasional congratulatory comments are fine, but if you’re here to enhance your business or career, aim for more purposeful interactions.”

There’s some uncertainty surrounding how to effectively integrate AI into marketing strategies. Since marketing teams are closest to the consumer, they have the unique ability to take a proactive approach and lead the way in implementing AI. By leveraging their understanding of the customer journey, they can pinpoint opportunities where AI can enhance existing business processes.

“With AI, it’s crucial to know what you want to achieve. Don’t let tactics drive the strategy. Strategy should guide the tactics. The organizations using AI most effectively are those with a dedicated AI marketing champion. Things won’t happen unless someone takes the lead,” says Jim Lecinski, Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing at Kellogg School of Marketing, Northwestern University, on a DMI podcast.

Brian Corish suggests that the first step is to assess your company’s environment and the level of change it’s willing to embrace. Once this is clear, you can identify and prioritize AI projects, gaining the necessary support from key stakeholders.

When selecting an AI project, marketers must decide whether the goal is to optimize processes, accelerate production, or transform the business model:

• Optimize: Improve internal processes for efficiency (e.g., using ChatGPT to generate marketing briefs).

• Accelerate: Enhance existing products or services. Review metrics to see if AI could add enough value to justify a price increase.

• Transform: Use AI to create new products, services, or business models. This presents a great opportunity to engage across departments, identifying challenges and exploring how AI can provide solutions.

Expert tip: When choosing your AI approach, consider where your company currently stands. For instance, if a significant portion of tasks is browser-based, many of those processes may be ripe for automation. There’s little benefit in jumping straight into transformation if internal processes haven’t been fully audited first.

While AI excels in technical skills and is accessible to everyone, it has its limitations.

“AI is at its weakest right now,” says Corish. “As marketers, we need to focus on our soft skills and reasoning abilities because AI struggles in those areas.”

It’s crucial to think about how we navigate and influence within an organization to get things done, as that will be vital in the next few years. Additionally, we need to explore how to co-create with AI.

“AI won’t take your job, but someone who understands how to use AI will. The key is to collaborate and co-create with AI,” Corish concludes.

The rollout of AI snapshots to new regions is ongoing, and Lam predicts these features will significantly impact search results. “From a traffic perspective, we anticipate this could lower clickthrough rates for websites that appear below these snapshots, which is concerning for SEO,” says Lam.

Expert tip: Stay proactive in monitoring your presence in AI snapshots. As AI Overviews become fully available and tools to analyze them are accessible, it will be essential to let the data guide your strategy.

Create content that’s worth talking about & sharing

Creating exceptional content has always been crucial, but in 2024, if you want to rank in search results, your content needs to go above and beyond. “Your success will depend on whether you can produce content that’s far superior to AI-generated content,” says Lam.

There have been speculations that backlinks may be losing their importance. Interviews with Google employees suggest backlinks are no longer one of the top three ranking factors. However, Lam believes backlinks will still serve as a sign of popularity for Google, particularly as it plans to validate its AI snapshots with sources from across the web.

Expert tip: Google is now featuring videos and high-quality imagery in the AIO carousel. While the quality isn’t perfect yet, expect playable videos to become an integral part of your content strategy moving forward.

Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) framework is an essential part of its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, though it is not a direct ranking factor. This framework has been in place for over a decade, but this year, Google introduced an additional “E” for ‘Experience.’

The addition of ‘Experience’ is important because AI can’t replicate human experience in the same way. This gives human content creators a significant advantage and reinforces the importance of involving experts in content creation.

“As you craft your content strategy, focus on demonstrating that the person behind your content or website has Expertise, hands-on Experience, Authority, and Trust to ensure they are recognized as a credible voice,” advises Lam.

Expert tip: Create a checklist of the E-E-A-T factors most relevant to your business and evaluate them like a scorecard. Examine what your competitors are doing to build trust and authority, then assess your own performance against theirs. Identify areas for improvement and strategize to close any gaps.

Google regularly updates its algorithms, which can impact how effectively you capture clicks directly from the search engine results page (SERP). While this is beyond your control, there’s one thing you can influence: user experience (UX).

“You can’t afford to have slow page speeds or a poor user experience,” Lam explains. “For every visitor that comes to your site, you need to ensure you’re doing everything possible to maximize your conversion potential.”

Expert tip: When Mozilla improved its page load speeds by just a couple of seconds, it saw a 14% increase in conversions for Firefox. Even small adjustments to your UX, load speed, and focus on improving conversion rates can result in a significant boost.

With intense competition for customers, paid advertising provides companies a way to target their core audience with relevant messages.

The pay-per-click (PPC) model is especially appealing because it allows marketers to control their spending and stick to a set budget.

“One of the biggest challenges for those running PPC campaigns right now is trying to keep cost-per-clicks low,” says Brendan Almack, Managing Director of Wolfgang Digital, in a recent DMI podcast. “There’s also been a shift in how we measure ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). Marketers are realizing that focusing too heavily on ROAS can limit growth, especially when looking to acquire new customers.”

Google continues to dominate this space. In Q3 2023, Google reported global revenue of $76.7 billion, with $59.6 billion coming from advertising—an increase of 9.5% year-on-year, highlighting the ongoing demand for paid ads.

As we move into 2024, this growth shows no signs of slowing, but there will be key developments to consider, particularly with the rise of AI.

In 2024, Google plans to introduce even more generative AI tools into Google Ads. While these advancements could be useful, it’s important to approach them with some caution, given that Google Ads is ultimately a revenue-generating platform. The concern is that AI could introduce biases in aspects like algorithms and ad layouts due to design engineering.

“Google has been gradually shifting many tasks traditionally handled by search marketers over to AI,” says Cathal Melinn, Digital Marketing Director, Commercial Analyst & Ecommerce specialist.

“Google isn’t just a search engine anymore; it’s also a powerful ad-buying tool. The integration of AI into platforms like demand gen and Performance Max connects ads across partner sites to search results in a very clever way.”

While this increased use of AI will offer more automation, it will also reduce the control marketers have over ad visibility and performance. AI is prone to over-optimization and often struggles to understand context or language the way humans do. Here’s a clear example of this challenge:

In 2024, it’s essential to view AI as a supportive tool to enhance your strategy, rather than relying on it as the sole solution.

Expert tip: In the Google Ads interface, you’ll find an optimization score that suggests actions like adding the display network, allowing Google to write your ads, enabling broad match, or removing keywords. However, keep in mind that Google Ads is designed to encourage certain actions that may not align with your goals. Always ensure that any adjustments you make are in your best interest.

Don’t just take Google’s advice at face value! Regardless of your experience in PPC or search marketing, always trust your own data-backed judgment when managing Google Ads campaigns.

In recent years, Google representatives have been reaching out to suggest changes to ad campaigns. However, the script they follow can be quite persuasive, making you feel like your current strategy or tool usage is wrong. Melinn advises against making decisions on the spot during these calls.

“Don’t make changes during a phone call with your rep, as they may not always be the right suggestions. They’ll likely push you to act quickly, but it’s okay to say no,” says Melinn.

Expert tip: For more insights, check out Amy Hebdon, founder and MD of the Google Partner agency Paid Search Magic, and her article ‘Are you being manipulated by Google Ads?’

The start of a new year is the perfect time to reassess your digital marketing strategy. It’s essential to identify what worked and, more importantly, what didn’t.

A well-defined strategy not only helps you achieve your business goals—whether it’s driving growth or enhancing brand awareness—but also provides clear direction for your team. It ensures everyone understands where to focus their efforts and what objectives they’re working toward.

In 2024, having a cohesive AI strategy will be essential. Currently, only 15% of organizations have a clearly defined and well-understood AI strategy, according to Mesh-AI research. But what other priorities should you consider?

Data breaches and misuse of data not only have a financial impact on brands but also erode customer trust. When customers lose confidence, they become hesitant to share personal information, which directly affects your engagement and data collection efforts.

According to KPMG research, 86% of Americans are increasingly concerned about data privacy, and 68% are worried about the amount of data businesses collect.

“You have to decide how you want to handle customer data,” says Ken Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Digital Marketing Institute. “If you’re open and transparent about your practices, explaining what you’re doing and why, there’s an opportunity to build trust and stand out as a company that values transparency.”

Expert tip: Be transparent about how you use customer data and give customers more control over their information. Evaluate the value you provide in exchange for their data, and stay informed about the latest data privacy regulations.

PWC’s Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey reveals that over 70% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainably-produced goods. This growing trend allows customers to use their purchasing power to support causes they care about, while giving companies the opportunity to charge higher prices for products or services that address these concerns.

The past year has been challenging for many employees, especially those at companies like Meta, Amazon, and Google. In 2023, the tech industry experienced a 50% increase in job losses compared to 2022, and the trend continues, with companies like Hasbro and Spotify announcing major layoffs in December.

As a result, there is a growing pool of skilled professionals seeking opportunities, while many organizations are tightening their hiring budgets. This shift places more power in the hands of employers, making it essential for job seekers to differentiate themselves and secure interviews.

“When meeting with a potential employer, don’t just focus on what you can contribute today. Highlight your leadership skills and spark curiosity about how you can drive their business forward in the future,” advised Terry Payne, Global Managing Director at Aspire, in a DMI podcast.

Expert Tip: Rethink your approach to networking. Instead of simply reaching out, make a clear and concise request. For example, “I’m feeling stuck in my career and looking to transition from a Marketing Director role to CMO. I’d love to hear how you made that leap.”

The debate between being a generalist or a specialist in digital marketing has always been a hot topic. When it comes to career growth, is it better to be well-rounded or to develop deep expertise in one area? In 2024, specialization may have the edge.

“It’s about identifying an area you truly enjoy working in,” says Cummins. “If you’re currently employed, seek out more projects related to that niche. If you’re between jobs, commit to continuous learning in your chosen field.”

Alongside developing a specialization, focus on these three key areas:

• Master distribution channels: A solid strategy for delivering products to target customers (e.g., Amazon) is essential. Gaining experience in larger markets beyond your own will enhance your skills.

• Understand marketing effectiveness: While digital marketing can be measured down to the last cent, success now lies in integrating multiple channels to assess overall impact.

• Know and showcase your strengths: Be clear about what sets you apart, and confidently communicate your expertise and passion.

A passion for learning not only shows employers that you’re driven and enthusiastic, but it also expands your skill set and opens doors to new career opportunities.

“Every time I speak to someone who has invested in their self-development, something positive has come from it,” says Cummins. “Whether it’s an upskilling course, a creative pursuit, or learning a new language, the benefits are always there.”

Learning doesn’t have to feel like a chore—it can be engaging and enjoyable. With countless options available, from online courses and local college programs to apprenticeships, it’s about finding a format that fits your lifestyle.

Self-learning is another powerful tool, whether it’s tuning into industry podcasts or reading insightful blogs on topics that spark your interest.

Expert Tip: When it comes to AI, dive in and explore the platforms. Step beyond your role as a digital marketer and use them in everyday situations. Even if they’re clunky or imperfect, the hands-on experience will give you valuable insights to discuss.

2024 promises to be both an exciting and challenging year for marketers. AI is transforming everything—from consumer behavior and purchasing habits to how businesses and marketing teams operate.

One key takeaway from our conversations with experts is that marketers must embrace AI to stay effective. Even if your role isn’t directly impacted yet, it will be in the future. Start learning about AI now and experiment with different platforms—otherwise, you risk falling behind.

Focus on the trends that matter most to you and identify opportunities to leverage them in 2024.

For deeper insights into the year’s biggest digital marketing trends, don’t miss our exclusive webinar!

Stay ahead and stay curious in 2024! Enhance your skills and accelerate your career with DMI’s industry-recognized Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing. This certified course covers essential topics, including digital marketing fundamentals, social media marketing, SEO, analytics, AI, PPC, email marketing, and more. Take the next step in your career—get started today!