(Photo : Screenshot from austinrotter.org)

Austin Rotter, a digital marketing strategist who has over a decade of experience working with countless hyper-growth and disruptive companies says that COVID has fundamentally changed the digital media, as well as the larger social marketing ecosystem forever.

Rotter notes that not all change is scary though. He points out that in today's digital and 24/7 media world, as it adapts to a seemingly ever-changing "new normal," brands must be quicker than ever to pivot at a moment's notice. With the constantly growing number of screens, devices and other entertainment options millions have access to, consumers are busier, more fragmented and more distracted than ever before.

From a marketing perspective, Rotter points out that what might have worked or been considered best practices less than 24 months ago has been totally thrown out the window.

Welcome to the Emerging Metaverse

Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse is barely getting started and there's no signs of it slowing down from here. Brands, marketers, and everyone else are paying very attention here, eyeing the metaverse as the new digital frontier to explore.

For early adopters of the metaverse, they are betting that it will hopefully be the second coming of a new digital revolution that has not been seen since the early days of the internet's dot-com boom. In terms of use cases and possible applications, there are countless entertainment factors tied to the metaverse that make this extremely attractive to consumers.

At the end of the day, where there is massive consumer demand, ultimately there will be just as many companies chasing the enormous dollar figures that come with it.

We are still years away from the metaverse really taking off and truly becoming mainstream. However, everything is in place for it to become the next holy grail for marketers over the next decade plus.

Ongoing E-Commerce Explosion Driven By Social Apps

Austin Rotter points out that COVID forced consumers to leave traditional, brick and mortar storefronts and explore mostly all digital first options. While shoppers are slowly returning to stores and shopping in-person, a lot of habits have shifted over the last two years during the ongoing pandemic.  With the uptick of online businesses and digital shopping destinations, e-commerce sales have grown in record numbers over the past year.

Various social media platforms are now the main driver in this fundamental shift as sites started reformatting their apps to allow for e-commerce sales within the platform itself. Instagram was one of the first platforms to do this at scale. Many other social media platforms will likely follow their lead given the success it's seeing. This presents businesses with the unique opportunity to expand their sales efforts in a more digital first, interactive way. If the last few years has shown us anything, especially with the rapid use of social media, brands will be looking to take advantage of broader e-commerce first options moving forward.

The Gig Economy Disrupting The Great Resignation

There is no ignoring the power of the gig economy. With the great resignation impacting not just the digital marketing industry, but larger corporate America, the gig economy has become the great equalizer for professionals.

According to Upwork's Freelance Forward Economist Report, "freelancers contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy in annual earnings, up $100 million from 2020."

Hiring contractors, you have access to talent around the globe-not just in your local area-making it easier to find innovative workers that have unique backgrounds, experiences and skill sets that might not have been available a few years ago.

Also, with a gig worker, you can work with them either on a short or long-term basis. For example, if you only need a web designer or digital copywriter for three months, you can hire a gig worker on a per-project basis. When you don't have consistent and ongoing needs for a specific task, it allows you to scale up or down based on output and demand.