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5 Social Media Trends You Should Look Out for in 2022
In 2021, social media reached over 3.7 billion users globally and its popularity continues to grow. In the context of the social media expansion – in terms of reach and functionality, brands are starting to wonder what are the best ways to engage with their customers in the new year. Not to mention that we’ve seen a lot of “What works today, won’t work tomorrow” scenarios lately.
So, if you are looking to up your social media game in the following year we curated a few social media trends that you should look out for in 2022. Read on to discover them.
1. TikTok Will will become even bigger
While Instagram remains a favorite, TikTok is moving up in the ranks. Entertaining, short form video content will become increasingly popular, as TikTok is transformed into a must-use platform in 2022. The platform exceeded 1 billion active users monthly and it is estimated to overtake Instagram this year.
Since its appearance, TikTok launched a bunch of important tools like ads for business profiles, aimed at businesses and entrepreneurs. This means it’s no longer just a platform for pre-teen creators that want to share their dance moves, it’s become a key channel that brands can use to reach millennials and generation Z.
Key insights:
- As TikTok is not as saturated with advertising and brand pages like other social media platforms, businesses which manage to position themselves here will gain a competitive advantage for the future.
- Advertising costs are competitive in comparison to Instagram and Facebook.
- It enables brands to make user generated content a central part of their content strategy.
2. Instagram Reels are part of a paradigm shift
Through reels, Instagram is embracing a paradigm shift where users are asking for entertaining video content. As more and more users embrace the shift, brands need to embrace it as well to remain relevant on the platform. Videos need to be creative and entertaining to stand out. Remember that the user’s attention span is increasingly low – so you need to make your message quick and efficient.
As Instagram is trying to maintain its advantage in the face of the TikTok rise, in 2022 the platform will focus on:
- Giving more power to creators. In the following months, Instagram will introduce new benefits for creators, which will be able to monetise their content within the platform.
- Instagram will focus on reels even more and they will continue to promote this format. Now with IGTV gone, the Video section is all about reels.
- More shopping options enable users to shop from the platform. Links in stories for all users and new features like Live Shopping are part of their efforts to make Instagram shoppable.
- Better communication is also part of the Instagram paradigm shift, so more messaging features are on their way.
3. Building communities with the help of creators
In 2022, the key to growing a brand’s online community is to place it in the hands of creators. Whether you decide to use YouTube streamers, macro or mini-influencers across Facebook, TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat – remember that creators can bring true value for your interest groups.
In 2022 there is no shortage of creators and social media platforms are introducing more features to help creators monetize their work. In short, creators are changing the way people are consuming content and they bring a new level of influence in the media ecosystem.
So, stop trying to build a community from nothing. Be smart and dig into the creator communities to build awareness and learn more about customers.
4. Social selling continues to grow
In the last few years, social media platforms have adapted to make native shopping possible – so users can purchase products without leaving their platform. Instagram shoppable stories, Spark ads on TikTok are all created to allow brands to make their products visible and desirable.
In 2022, more brands will use social selling to reach users wherever they are ready to buy.
Brands have always used social channels to sell their products. The only difference in 2022 is that the ability to buy directly via social media will become the new norm, as eMarketer anticipates, that the social commerce industry will be worth $80 billion by 2025.
So, when you are thinking about your sales funnel this year, make sure you give social media some extra attention. Your goal is to create the best possible shopping experience for your customers, right? And if this means you need to adapt and include social media as a sales channel to reduce the number of clicks to sale – why not do it? But remember to use it wisely; it’s always a good idea to have your owned media as a priority channel, and 3rd party media as an alternative – just in case!
5. Paid advertising becomes necessary
According to a survey developed by Hootsuite, more than 40% of marketers indicate that the decline of organic reach increased the need to spend more on paid ads. If your signal-to-noise ratio is low (meaning you don’t get much from your content strategy) you have to amplify content with the help of paid ads – or just get used to the idea that it won’t reach your audience as desired.
Another option is to break through the noise with frequency and spam your audience with more posts per day. Or you can use the cost of content creation and transform it into paid support for one good post every few days. It’s up to you really.
To wrap it up…
In 2022, not only that the social media landscape is constantly changing – the world is too. It’s obvious that this list is not all of what we will see this year, but it is a good starting point for crafting your strategy.
Stay competitive by doing your research constantly and by keeping an eye on online user behavior. Pay even more attention to your customer avatar and have a chat with your social media team to decide what trends are worth following for your business and industry.
Do you want to elevate your social media presence this year? Learn more about our our digital services and get a quote from our team.
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