Posted by Social media platforms have become an integral part of our business marketing campaigns. According to Statista, 92% of companies use social media for their marketing purposes as of 2021. They have a good reason for that. Because today 71% of people use social media channels more than ever before.
Do you know that brands that meet their customers’ expectations on social media networks get massive spikes in engagement? Keeping that in mind, let’s dig into these eight biggest social media trends.
Especially the ones that will help you to plan your strategy for the upcoming year.
Social Trends That You Are More Likely to Follow in 2022
Social media trends have gone through revolutionary changes over the past decades. Studying these trends and molding your business strategies accordingly is what can give you the edge in this competitive world. Here is what you should keep an eye out for:
1. Paid and organic social media tactics go local
Social media is like a pandora’s box that has opened an immense level of opportunities for businesses. The paid and organic marketing tactics are set to be targeted locally, i.e., to specific markets, since they yield better results.
Today we are seeing that paid and organic social media efforts have a heavy focus on location. A lot of brands create tailored content and ads for target audiences in certain geographic areas. For example, they promote ads with seasonal or weather-specific products, promote live events in specific geographic locations, and use location-specific filters on time-sensitive UGC.
Location-based marketing and advertising is a go-to approach for many brands. With its extended adoption and use, it will become a key part of social media marketing in the following years.
To maximize your local marketing strategy, you can use WebCEO to optimize your social media content for local SEO and increase your CTR. The tool allows you to get access to important data. You can also view reports by connecting Google My Business to your WebCEO account.
2. Influencer marketing becomes more prevalent
As per a report, 51% of the brands have found that influencer marketing is a vital cog that has helped them acquire more customers. On the other hand, buyers have shown strong support to the suggestions made by influencers that have directly impacted their purchase decision.
Today a lot of customers look at influencer content that shows the brand’s products in action, their value, and explains how to benefit from them. That’s why many brands come to use micro-and nano-influencers to build brand reputation and significant engagement.
The growing number of influencers on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok is proof that influencer marketing will play a major role in companies’ 2022 social media marketing campaigns.
3. User-generated content and social proof become more in-focus
Today a lot of companies have taken their main focus to improve their social media marketing with user-generated content. A major reason behind this is that the recommendation of previous users easily influences other buyers.
According to this research, 93% of marketers tell that customers trust more user-generated content than content made by the company itself. This includes all types of UGG from social media posts to product reviews and pure recommendations.
Social proof is a phenomenon where people replicate the actions of others by having behavior in a given situation. We can expect to see an increased inclusion of user-generated content and social proof in the marketing strategies in the coming year.
“User-generated content removes all doubt about your brand and makes your customer jump on your bandwagon to catch your offer,” says Mariano Rodriguez from LawRank. “With the increased focus on UGG, you can create stable relationships with your potential customers”.
If you want to move forward with this trend, build a balance between instructing to make sure that your customers’ content meets certain standards and looks authentic in the way they create said content. It is essential to create a plan to select high-quality UGG once it’s created, show it on your social media channels, and ask for high-quality UGG that will enhance engagement and significant experience for your customers.
4. TikTok will continue to get record views
TikTok will continue dominating in 2022 and developing a new medium where brands can connect with their target audiences. This platform has taken the biscuit and quickly has become a go-to approach to attract new customers and retain current ones.
With the launch of marketing features and advertising, TikTok is in the spotlight to secure a huge number of brands, users, and creators and the highest quality content that will go on engaging with it for different marketing purposes. Moreover, the app has introduced a monetization model and e-commerce aspect for brands to stay TikTok savvy and connect with more customers.
5. Social media content is FOMO-central
The constant connection to the virtual universe of social media has brought about the fear of missing out. We are constantly bombarded with the highlights of the lives of people around us on social media platforms. This set of information acts as a constant reminder of all the things that we are yet to experience.
Do you know that 56% of social media users feel FOMO and constantly check their favorite channels more frequently than they did two years ago? Today a lot of brands are going to capitalize on this in two ways: create ephemeral content on Instagram Stories and Snapchat posts.
Marketers need to experiment with this time-sensitive content to promote their products, increase sales, and can’t-miss company events. By creating this sense of urgency and exclusivity, you will improve the use of your ephemeral content.
Live video is another great way to generate engagement and increase your audience’s sense of FOMO. You can create shoppable live videos where you include exclusive offers and promotions to make them more effective and engage directly with your product. Try to deliver the best experience to your audience that will never get again and keep them engaged well in the future.
6. The Metaverse will be the next consumer connection
Until now, we learned a lot about the universe, but now a new term is gaining huge popularity — “metaverse.” Metaverse is a virtual world that can connect anyone, anytime and anywhere. The central concept of the metaverse is the idea that virtual and 3D environments that are available, accessible, and interactive in real-time will be the transformative medium for social and business engagement.
Moreover, Facebook has just taken a serious step in the metaverse direction and has changed its name to “Meta”. It is predicted that other social media giants will follow in the footsteps of Facebook in 2022. So, the metaverse is not yet a reality, but it could be the next evolution of online socializing and interaction.
7. Social selling will improve the customer journey
Now social selling is becoming a key part of eCommerce businesses that need real growth and increased brand presence. According to this research, 78% of social sellers make more sales than their counterparts who aren’t using social media.
With the advent of new shopping features, social media users can buy easily products and items without leaving the app. Business owners need to reevaluate their buying options and use social selling opportunities via Instagram Shop, Stories, Reels, and more. The next big thing in social commerce will be selling via live video as a more prevalent way in 2022.
8. Brands will move to social media decentralization
Social media decentralization empowers the users to see the content of their choice. Social media decentralization would allow the consumers to find the brands. This can help avoid working around complex algorithms to find the consumers. Also, it would open up immense opportunities for new entrants or smaller brands to compete against the large brands.
Today brands don’t need to be limited to the main social media channels anymore. They can create their own in-house social communities with different features and forums to control their audiences. The main idea of decentralized social media is a different infrastructure without a central server and no company controlling the website. So, you will see a serious move of companies following the way with a stronger interaction aspect to the customer experience.
Bottom Line
Social media is becoming bigger and better as years roll by. It is just like an old wine that tastes better with age. So, if you want to succeed in social media, you should focus on content, connections, and strategy in 2022.
Customer demands can be high that means brands need to provide diverse opportunities. They also should accelerate customer intelligence to their social media strategy. In this article, we’ve listed the best social media trends you can use for your campaign. These will help your spread your social media wings.