Many people find it difficult to work in an industry that constantly changes, such as the social media landscape. If you’re unsure of what is popular or how to incorporate trends into your strategy, you are not alone.
As the popularity of social media grows, so do the challenges for brands who want to engage with huge social media audiences. What social media trends should we expect in the coming year?
What can brands expect in 2022? HubSpot surveyed over 1,000 marketing professionals to find out which trends B2B and B2C businesses will leverage in the coming year.
1. TikTok will dominate the social media space
TikTok has experienced extremely rapid growth. In 2021, the term ‘TikTok’ saw a 61% increase in mentions compared to the previous year, and was the first non-Facebook app to reach 3 million global downloads.
The rapid growth of TikTok has led many to believe that it is a passing fad. However, HubSpot’s social media team believes that TikTok provides unique opportunities to engage directly with consumers. Major brands such as the NBA and Dunkin’ Donuts are using TikTok to reach new audiences.
2. You will start spending big ad dollars on smaller networks
This is the most surprising of all the social media trends on this list.
According to new research, consumers may be more responsive to advertising on smaller social media channels, such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Pinterest, than on bigger networks.
A study found that consumers ranked TikTok ads as more inspiring and enjoyable than ads on other platforms.
A study by Nielson commissioned by Snapchat found that ads on Snapchat had more reach than TV ads and led to greater awareness and purchase intent. Another study by Pinterest Business found that ads on Pinterest had higher ROI and cheaper conversion rates than ads on other social networks.
3. In 2022 Businesses will strive to reach new audiences.
In 2021, HubSpot’s Blog Research found the primary goals of most marketers’ social media strategies were:
- Advertising products/services (35%)
- Increasing brand awareness/reaching new audiences (34%)
- Increasing revenue/sales (34%)
In 2022, 76% of marketers say their goals will change.
As we enter 2022, most marketers primary goals include:
- Increasing brand awareness/reaching new audiences (39%)
- Fostering relationships with customers/increasing brand loyalty (33%)
- Improving customer service and retention (32%)
If you want to improve your social media presence, you need to post regularly and consistently, take advantage of popular trends, and invest in high-quality content.
To create deeper relationships with your existing audiences, try using interactive elements such as polls, Q&As, and live videos.
4. Companies will make more dedicated social media hires
Social media is a powerful strategy for your business. It can help you connect with customers and create a community around your brand. Additionally, social media can be used to drive traffic to your website and generate leads.
Not only can social media be used for building brand awareness, but it can also be used to generate revenue. In fact, 79% of people say that user-generated content on social media has a significant impact on their purchasing decisions.
There will be an increase in dedicated social media hires in 2022 as opposed to businesses who task their marketing team with social media as a side project.
“One big trend for social media marketing in 2022 is to make a dedicated hire,” Aytekin Tank, Founder and CEO of Jotform, told me. “Companies frequently manage social media by committee or pass it off to a marketing generalist. But the problem is when social media isn’t prioritized, organizations miss out on the opportunity to optimize platforms and turn them into revenue generators.”
“A dedicated social media hire can solve this problem and help organizations grow platforms, keep tabs on social analytics, be part of industry-specific conversations, experiment with new platforms and trends, and more — all of which contributes to a stronger brand and more leads for your company. We’ve done it at Jotform, and it’s worth it.”
If you have not considered hiring a social media community manager, you should. They are the tone, voice, and conversations behind your brand. It is worth it to have someone managing your brand’s social media if your audience is eager to engage with your brand through social media.
eMarketer predicts that the social commerce industry will be worth $80 billion by 2025. This is due to the massive growth of e-commerce (which increased by 18% in 2020 alone).
81% of shoppers were already discovering new brands and researching products on social media before the pandemic. Therefore, many businesses have realized that it makes sense to let these users checkout on the same app.
After all, going to a website is an extra step, which is an extra potential problem in your conversion funnel. Especially on mobile phones, where cart abandonment rates are high.
Most social media networks have in-app shopping solutions now and are working to provide new features to meet the rising demand. However, the most popular social media networks are Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube are not far behind.
To-do list
Although social commerce is not likely to replace e-commerce soon, businesses should still design a retail experience with social commerce in mind.
- If you sell products to people, set up a Facebook Shop and/or an Instagram Shop. Or, test out Product Pins on Pinterest.
- There’s some design flexibility in these shops, so make the customer experience as visually seamless with your brand as you can.
6. No one will want to talk to your brand on the phone
An increasing number of people are beginning to prefer messaging over phone calls when dealing with businesses, according to a Facebook-commissioned Nielsen survey. This lines up with predictions made by Gartner, which stated that by 2023, 60% of customer service requests will be handled through digital channels.
Although more customers are using social media to communicate with organizations, many of these organizations are not yet equipped to provide effective customer support through these channels.
A recent survey by Hootsuite shows that 71% of organizations have not started investing in social customer care or have no plans to invest at all.
According to a recent Social Media Trends survey, the majority of respondents (59%) agreed that social customer care has become more valuable to their organization.
7. Augmented Reality will become consumers’ preferred way to try-on products and interact with brands
AR has been around for a few years and brands are increasingly using it to enable consumers to test products before purchase.
AR can help improve a business’ click-through rates to purchase by 33%.
Carolina Arguelles Navas, who is in charge of Snap Inc.’s strategies and marketing for products using augmented reality, mentioned that she believes by 2022, augmented reality will be the preferred choice for consumers when trying out products.
Navas argues that, compared to other marketing strategies, Augmented Reality (AR) is more effective for brands trying to reach consumers on a personal level.
8. Businesses in the B2B space will increase their investments in Instagram and Twitter
Although Instagram and Twitter have been around for a while, many marketers are still seeing increased ROI on both platforms.
In other words, Twitter had almost 200 million users who could be shown ads in Q3 of 2020, up 29% from the previous year.
Instagram had 14% more engagement from users in 2020 than in 2019, with users spending an average of 30 minutes on the app per day. This was higher engagement growth than any other social platform.
9. Influencer marketing will mature in 2022
Influencer marketing is expected to be strong in 2022 because people trusted influencers more than brands during the pandemic.
In 2022, brands will continue to establish partnerships with influencers to produce content. This is in response to the increased use of platforms like TikTok, where it has been difficult for brands to establish themselves.
As social media and e-commerce become more aligned, we will see more partnerships between influencers and businesses to increase sales.
10. Social advertising will become more sophisticated
Since Google plans to get rid of cookie tracking by 2023, third party cookie tracking will slowly die out in the next year. Marketers will need to adapt their strategies as social advertising changes.
There are many effective advertising strategies that don’t use third-party cookies. Examples include user-generated content, targeted and personalized ads on social media, email marketing, and retargeting campaigns through search engines.
Advertisers should focus on developing a data-driven strategy using metrics to understand their users’ interests and preferences on a deeper and more personal level, rather than relying on third-party cookies.
11. Long-form video is bust, except on YouTube
Sixty percent of all videos on the internet were two minutes or less in 2020, according to video hosting software company Vidyard.
YouTube, which is known for its long-form educational videos, was rewarding videos that were 10 minutes or longer. Facebook wanted to compete in the same arena.
Instagram has removed IGTV. No one talks about Facebook Watch anymore. Even YouTube, the last social media platform with long-form video, has introduced a new format: YouTube Shorts.
This suggests that users of social media will not watch just any short-form videos, but only those that are entertaining and engaging. It may also be that disappearing content is not as great a attraction as it used to be.
This survey indicates that businesses prefer short-form video over other content for social media platforms.
12. You will outsource (at least some of) your engagement tactics to a Creator
The economy created by creators has been around for about a decade, but exploded during the pandemic as people looked for ways to diversify their income (due to unemployment, or a sudden influx of spare time, or both).
“Creator” refers to anyone who produces content for social media with a commercial intent, whether they are professional influencer marketers or amateur content creators.
As of 2021, 50 million people consider themselves to be creators on social networks. businesses are set to spend $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022.
This means that nearly three-quarters of all marketers in the United States will be using influencer marketing within the next three years.
13. Social selling demands will grow
In recent years, social media platforms have made an effort to create shopping experiences that allow users to purchase items without leaving the site.
Instagram’s Shoppable Stories lets you buy products without leaving the app by tapping on a product sticker.
Other platforms have increased revenue by investing in native advertising, which creates a more seamless experience for users. For example, TikTok created an advertising format called Spark Ads, which allows brands to boost the profile of existing organic content.
As we enter the year 2022, we will see an increase in the number of brands using social selling to reach users at any time they are ready to make a purchase. If users prefer to purchase products from Instagram, then brands should allow for that.
Navigating social media in 2022
We can expect the world around us to continue changing at a rapid pace, with social media playing a big role in shaping our future. This list of trends is just the beginning of what we’ll see in the next few years.
As a social media marketer, you should research trends, online consumer behaviors, and your team’s social media data to determine which trends or strategies to use or how to navigate online scenarios.
There is no need to pick just one social media platform. Start brainstorming ways your business could use social media in the present.