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Let’s discover what’s on the horizon in 2022 for social media and how you can use the latest trends to your brand’s advantage.
Social media marketing in the following months is all about the customer.
Brands are constantly scanning the digital world for new opportunities to engage larger audiences and benefit from their public’s online behavior. Social media marketing trends nowadays, similar to those in other sectors, are experiencing a rapid transformation due to changing customer expectations.
Social media is no longer about status updates but promoting and selling services and products and growing online communities. And while social media trends might seem inexhaustible, you can point out those that provide you with the opportunity to connect with your ideal customer in a way that retains their attention.
Let’s discover what’s on the horizon in 2023 for social media and how you can use the latest trends to your brand’s advantage.
Image source https://unsplash.com/photos/mr4JG4SYOF8
1. Brands need a social media crisis plan
Everyone knows that incidents amplify quickly on social media and escalate into a crisis overnight. These instances are often fast-paced and challenging if the brand lacks experience dealing with something similar.
Over the following months, the need for brands to have a social media risk management plan will rise. The social marketing and public relations departments have to come together and develop effective strategies. It doesn’t matter if it’s for website outages, negative reviews, or other reasons; going viral for the wrong reasons can harm a brand’s reputation in the long run. Therefore, companies must create effective social media crisis plans that enable them to handle any situation that may affect their evolution.
The experts from Passion Digital recommend brands stay vigilant for potential crises and provide real-time reactions to handle sensitive subjects in a way that doesn’t impact their reputation.
2. Short-form videos are increasing in popularity
TikTok and Instagram are two of the most popular social media channels, and they promote video as the main form of content. Hence, it surprises no one that short-form videos will capture the public’s attention on social media in the following months. The video format exists in one form or another in all social media channels, so brands should look for ways to include short-form video content in their marketing strategies, regardless of their platforms.
Research shows that around 93% of companies have captured new clients because of video content, and people prefer videos that are shorter than a minute. Thankfully, creating short-form videos is easy as they require fewer resources. However, brands need to align with the latest video-production trends and create innovative content to gain their audiences’ attention because, since the rise of TikTok and Stories, social media has been oversaturated with video content.
3. Climate change and sustainability will impact purchase decisions
Magazines, newspapers, online news websites, and other information sources state that climate change and sustainability are becoming the main factors influencing purchase decisions, impacting commerce (online and offline).
Studies reveal that 28% of Gen Z-ers are concerned with how their activities impact the environment and reflect their worry in their attitude towards the brands they purchase from. Most think companies should do more to lower their carbon footprint and transform sustainability into business practice.
Customers nowadays are pretty skeptical about brands’ work ethic and value transparency more than anything else. So, they ask brands to share information about their processes and prove they’re passionate about sustainability values. Also, thanks to the access to information the Internet provides, consumers can easily identify corporate greenwashing and trigger a backlash.
4. Companies need to have a social audio strategy in place
Audio content isn’t new to digital marketing, but its appearance on social media is recent, and many brands have no idea how to integrate it into their strategies. Working with a professional digital marketing agency with experience producing audio content for brands is recommended for a company that never developed an audio strategy.
Audio methods can include music playlists, podcasts and even online radios. The brand needs to focus its marketing efforts on social media platforms that address its ideal clients if they want their audio content to attract prospects.
In 2021 Facebook introduced a set of audio features users can use (Soundbites, podcasts, Rooms) to support content creators and provide them with the tools needed to create video and audio content. Twitter also created Twitter Spaces to enable brands to host auto-only discussions. Not all brands could benefit from an audio strategy, but those that want to expand their marketing channels can use this tool.
5. TikTok is on the rise
Yes, the app doesn’t record the same high number of new registrations daily, but it doesn’t mean its success will slow down anytime soon. The app had 1 billion active users in September 2021. Since then, it has invested in the platform to make it more user-friendly and provide brands with features that make it easier to address audiences and promote services. The social media platform states that it’s the ideal channel to promote products and services, as 47% of users have purchased something they saw on TikTok, and 67% were inspired to visit a store they heard about on the platform.
6. Companies will invest more in social commerce
Social commerce is when people buy services or products via a social media channel. All social media platforms have invested in social commerce to allow brands to sell their products directly from their social media profiles.
Research reveals that 73% of brands already rely on social commerce, and 79% intend to include it in their sales strategy in the following years. Companies can tag products from their online stores without leaving the page. Considering its popularity, social commerce will most likely grow in the next few years.
7. Greater emphasis on mental health
Social media platforms are expected to emphasize promoting mental health and well-being, such as implementing tools to reduce screen time and combat cyberbullying.
The bottom line
Brands should continually watch social media marketing trends to determine strategies to appeal to their public.
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