Swindon & Wiltshire News
My PR and media predictions for 2024 – Fiona Scott
Our Expert of the Week Fiona Scott, of Scott Media, takes a look at the attention-grabbing trends for 2024.
The media is evolving and changing at a rapid pace and this increasingly becomes evident when you work in a news and story environment.
Here are some things to consider when planning your content, stories and media outreach in 2024.
1 AI will continue to be a hot topic – with all that goes with it for good or ill. It also means people will rely on it more for content. Nothing wrong with that, however be aware that not checking, not adding in any personality will create something very vanilla for your sector and search engines, using their own AI, will not like that over time.
2 With the rise of AI, the need and desire for personality will, in my view, increase and will have even greater value. To stand out you will need to embrace unique stories and the best way to do that is with people stories and the personalities within your business or organisation. This also drives authenticity which will also be valued even more.
3 Social media will continue to strengthen as search engines and also in their dominance around minute-by-minute stories. It’s predicted that LinkedIn will increasingly value thought leadership and that video will become an even stronger asset especially on Facebook and Tiktok as well, of course, on YouTube.
4 Influencer marketing is predicted to rise and become of higher value mainly because of the increasing influence of Gen Z. More on that next.
5 Gen Z is becoming more powerful and influential – those born between 1997 and 2012 with the oldest turning 27/28 next year. It’s estimated that they already make up 40 per cent of consumers. Millennials turn 43 next year and have huge influence too. Gen Z grew up with technology as a natural form of communication from birth. They will not take any brand seriously which does not have an online profile even if they’ve met you face to face.
All of these general trends will tend to feed into stories the media will be interested in next year – as the media simply reflects and represents the public in all of its variety.
6 The media will continue to be interested in all things green, sustainability, the weather, climate change, climate crisis, good practice, practical examples of success and examples of things which have gone wrong.
7 Mental health, wellbeing, mental illness and related subjects will continue to be on trend because we all have greater awareness and Gen Z is much more likely to make choices around their future careers, work life balance too. They are more aware of mental wellness than any other generation.
8 Social issues – the cost of living, social care, the NHS, housing etc will all come up and it will be more politically charged than before as a General Election will be happening in the next year. For clarity, if a General Election has not been called by December 12 2024 then Parliament will be dissolved automatically and a General Election will take place within the month. It’s very unlikely the Government will allow that to happen.
9 Data – the media love data, they love surveys which talk about how groups of people are behaving in communities, generations, areas, postcode areas, regions and nationally. These make great story ‘hooks’ for the media and they will often want a case study to back up some of that data and expert voices too.
10 The media can start with you – this has been happening for more than a decade now (think of those early YouTubers who are now really famous). Sadly with the continued contraction of the local media it will happen even more. The need for contributor content (though if it’s too salesy you will be asked to pay) will grow and grow alongside a need to pay for different things like backlinks. The media can start with you in a world where you can run your own radio show (podcast) or even your own tv channel (YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and others).
Fiona Scott is a journalist, media consultant and author who has run her company Scott Media for 15 years. https://scottmedia.uk
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