Looking Ahead – 2024 Communications Landscape
We have turned the page on 2023, and with a few months of 2024 behind us, our public relations, events, crisis communications, public affairs, and social media experts shared their insights on 2024 trends that are here to stay. Here’s what they had to say:
1. Event Trends
“In 2024, events are embracing an era marked by sustainability, with organizers adopting responsible practices that align with organizational goals and improve their impact on the planet, attendees, and community. Attendee-centric planning will also take precedence, prioritizing interactivity, wellness, and bespoke customizations that cater to the evolving needs of the modern participant. Simultaneously, the integration of Artificial Intelligence will continue to revolutionize event planning processes, optimizing efficiency in brainstorming, collateral development, and contract verbiage. This focus on sustainability and attendee experience, coupled with AI integration, promises a year of enhanced productivity, memorable experiences, and seamless event management.”
Wendy Spivak, Principal/Co-Founder
2. Public Relations Trends
“PR practitioners will have a busy year ahead as we need to lean into our time-honored practical skills. Anticipation of and preparation for both crises and newsjacking opportunities will continue to be at the center of our work. As always, we need to be fast, and we need to be on target. (And this applies to internal and external comms, as our “world on fire” steady state impacts stakeholders across the board.)”
3. Crisis Communications Trends
“This coming year will be an extension of the last, particularly as it relates to organizations weighing if, how, or when to comment on external events – and what their goal is in doing so. This includes the 2024 election, which may be the most hotly contested in history, and the institutions and companies that don’t have a plan for managing stakeholder engagement are in for a challenging year ahead.”
4. Public Affairs Trends
“In 2024, we will continue to see a media landscape and policy debate clouded in misinformation and heightened polarization. Eliminating risk and reputation management will be challenging for organizations regardless of size and industry. Organizations must prioritize building trust early and have a strategy in place to strengthen stakeholder relationships in a transparent and authentic way. With an intentional strategy in place to grow these relationships, trusted partners can serve as third-party validators to protect values, neutralize misinformation, and help build credibility for the long-term.”
Taylor Connolly, Senior Director Public Affairs & PR
5. Social Media Trends
“Connectivity and authenticity are going to remain key, and brands that want to be successful will leverage the creativity of their social content themselves rather than farming it all out to influencers. This will mean an uptick in collaborations, storytelling, and entertainment-driven content to humanize the brand and remain relevant in the social space. In the paid world, the pendulum is swinging back toward brand-leveraged awareness, with a focus on creating a personalized experience for the user. With the platform algorithms hyper-focused on organically presenting the most relatable content to each user, ads will have to align with that execution to differentiate the brand.”
Melissa Paiva, Social Media Account Director
Looking for more 2024 PR, Events and Communications Trends and Predictions?
Castle is an active member of Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), a worldwide network of independent, mid-sized firms that guarantees our clients the same high level of market expertise and insight in international markets that they have in our own domestic environment. Each year PRGN gathers insight from its member agency principals on what to expect for the year ahead.
Check out the PRGN blog for more global predictions from comms pros.
