2023 digital corporate communication trends

It's time for our annual tradition of predicting digital corporate communication trends. This year the world has seen new challenges, and we are reminded once again of how volatile the world around us is and how important it is to stay up to date.

To help you stay up to date, we have gathered some of our experts to hear what they think is coming next in the world of digital corporate communication based on their experience and expertise. The result is a mix of topics ranging from AI to accessibility:

AI-generated content

Mathias Korsbäck, CTO:

People have been talking about AI-generated content for many years, but in 2022 AI-generated content started to make its way into marketing and communications. The releases of DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion - tools that, simply put, can generate images with AI had a big part in this. And not to mention ChatGPT, the recently launched chatbot which generates human-like text.

When asking Chat GPT if AI will change how listed companies communicate, this is the answer we get:

"It is likely that AI will have some impact on how listed companies communicate with their stakeholders, such as investors, customers, and employees. For example, AI-powered natural language generation (NLG) technology can be used to automatically generate reports and updates, freeing up time for employees to focus on more strategic tasks. Additionally, AI can be used to analyze large amounts of data and provide insights that can help companies improve their communication and decision-making. Overall, the extent to which AI will change how listed companies communicate will depend on how they choose to adopt and use the technology."

Not too bad, eh? AI has the potential to greatly impact content marketing and creation in the next couple of years in several ways. One of the most significant ways it could impact content marketing is by making it easier for marketers to create personalised content for their target audiences. AI could also make it easier to analyse large amounts of data and identify trends and patterns that can be used to inform content creation. In addition, AI-powered tools like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion could make it easier for marketers to create unique and engaging content. Overall, AI has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of content marketing and creation.

Mathias Korsbäck, CTO

UX writing

Freja Nilsson, Digital communications consultant:

UX design as a practice has been around for a long time. When office computers became common in the early 1990s, designers began to take user experience into account. In 1995 Donald Norman coined the term User Experience Design to cover all aspects of the person's experience with a system, including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction, and the manual. Something that wasn't covered in this definition was the texts found in the system, which contribute to the user experience just as much as the design.

The term UX writing has gained increased legitimacy in recent years, and we predict that it will only gain increased importance in 2023.

UX writing is about writing information in a way that considers the user's needs and behaviours. This includes structuring, formatting, simplifying the message and understanding how people read online. This is especially important in corporate communication, where information tends to be both complex and detailed.

UX writing trends in 2023:

1. Rising demand for UX writers and services: As companies realise that UX writing is essential, more and more companies hire dedicated UX writers or use UX writing services.
2. New UX-writing tools: As the field is growing, so is the number of UX-writing tools. The design tool Figma has released both a writing toolkit and a spell checker to help designers write. AI tools such as ChatGPT and copy.ai will also help writers set the tone and write faster with fewer errors.
3. Ensure UX writing when translating: As many companies are global and present in many markets, companies need to make sure that the translations follow the same standards as the texts in the website's primary language. We often see error messages, 404 pages and notifications not being translated at all or in a way that is hard to understand.

Scepticism towards inauthentic content

Also Freja Nilsson:

A trend that we have been noticing for some time is the increased scepticism among stakeholders towards company communication that is perceived as inauthentic and too "branded". We wrote about this in relation to employer branding in our articles "How to create trustworthy employer branding" and "TikTok + Employer Branding = True?".

This is a trend that we predict will become even stronger in 2023. A study from Label Insight showed that 94% of the respondents would stay loyal to a brand they perceive to be transparent and genuine.

Many large corporations fall into the trap of having a very streamlined and distant way of communicating, which will not gain the trust of investors, jobseekers and other stakeholders in 2023. Work with finding your true company purpose and adapt your tone of voice, content design and overall strategy to that.

Freja Nilsson, Digital communications consultant

Sustainability

Helena Wennergren, Head of Research:

The new EU taxonomy will affect all companies in the EU, also those with less than 500 employees. Investors and other stakeholders are likely to expect the same level of transparency from all listed companies, including companies outside the EU and those that aren't legally required to follow the taxonomy. Some companies have already been affected since large companies had to report on certain elements from 1 January 2022, covering 2021 as the first reporting period.

The taxonomy requires companies to, for example, be more transparent about climate-related risks and how they will affect their company and report on sustainability KPIs decided by the taxonomy. The Sustainability Report will also need to be digitally tagged, like the financial reports (ESEF).

This will result in even higher expectations of companies' sustainability communication and information; companies can no longer get away with vague sustainability statements. One of the main objectives of the EU taxonomy is to combat greenwashing and to help investors assess how sustainable a company is. There is a huge need for investments in sustainable projects, assets and companies in the EU to reach the goal of being climate neutral by 2050.

The trend of increasing expectations on companies' sustainability communication is something that we have observed for a long time, but now the legal requirements are starting to keep up. Because of this, it's more important than ever to ensure that your company has transparent, detailed and updated sustainability information on your corporate website. See also our article about Relevant sustainability content for investors and business journalists from our Webranking research.

Helena Wennergren, Head of Research

The rise of fin-fluencers

Berulv Tøndel, Digital strategist:

The number of YouTubers and accounts on Instagram and TikTok that focus on making individuals rich on the stock markets seems to be increasing, and the number of followers seems to grow. These accounts - which can be anyone from a local influencer to global names such as Elon Musk - are having a greater impact on retail investors. This might mean that retail investors are making their investment decisions on social media, so you need to be there and keep track of what they are doing and saying if you have a large base of retail investors.

Berulv Tøndel, Digital stategist

Analytics

Cola Herrero-Driver, Head of Client Services 

Google's Universal Analytics will discontinue in June 2023, which has forced many companies to review which tool they will use for their web analytics going forward. With Schrems and many countries banning Google Analytics, selecting an analytics tool has been a headache for many. There has been some development regarding safe trans-Atlantic data flows in the EU recently, which might make this an easier decision. Read more about Data protection: Commission starts process to adopt adequacy decision for safe data flows with the US.

Cola Herrero-Driver, Head of Client Services

Accessibility

Tim Fielden, Tech lead London

The law drives another critical area: accessibility. The European Accessibility Act will increase the requirements for commercial companies to provide accessible websites. Our sister agency and soon-to-be colleagues at Nordic Morning recently hosted a LinkedIn event on accessibility and why it matters–and it doesn't only have to do with legal requirements. You can find a transcript of their talk about Closing the accessibility act here.

Read also about the European accessibility act.

Tim Fielden, Tech lead London

These are some of the subjects that we see that communication departments will have to tackle in 2023. What do you think will be the hot topics? Let us know, or get in touch if you want to learn more.