As we enter another year, let’s take a look at the social media marketing trends we foresee shaping marketing this year. This year we predict these 5 trends will take off:

1. Community Management and Online Customer Service 
2. Social Search Will Grow in Popularity 
3. Short Form Content and UGC
4. Social Media Platforms Will Keep Competing with Each other 
5. Brands Entering the Metaverse 

To learn more about these trends, read on:

Community Management and Online Customer Service 

More consumers are looking to social media when it comes to engaging with brands. Many consumers look at social media as an opportunity to connect with brands they love, more and more customers are going to social media exclusively for customer service. Hootsuite predicted that this move to social for customer service would be a trend for 2022. And this trend isn’t slowing down. 

A study done by Emplifi found that only 2 in 3 people opt for social media customer service but that 70% of Gen Z consumers did not feel like they received excellent customer service. What’s more interesting is that in a Hootsuite survey, when asking marketers which teams handled direct messages related to the customer experience, 32% said it was exclusively their marketing teams. This is a ripe opportunity for brands to expand upon community management and online social media customer service experience to have an edge over the competition.

Social Search Will Grow in Popularity 

In short, social search is when consumers use social media to search for queries – be it where to get lunch or what anti-aging creams are the best. This was a trend we at B3 Media Solutions spotted in August of 2022 when Google’s Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan said that 40% of young people go to TikTok or Instagram for their queries. #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt alone has over 37.5B views. The number one suggestion when searching for this tag was “tiktokmademebuyit products”. Not only are users searching for specific products, places, or experiences on social media, but there is an expectation that users can turn to TikTok to find unique and special products. 

Short Form Content and UGC 

Short-form video content will continue its rise in popularity in 2023. Despite the political uncertainty of TikTok, brands are continuing to put more ad spend on TikTok. Insider Intelligence discovered in Q2 of 2022 there was a 231% increase in advertising on the platform and predicts that this will only continue to rise over the next two years. 

Youtube and Instagram, of course, have released their answers to TikTok through Shorts and Reels, respectively. If you follow our newsletter, then you’ve seen that both platforms have been consistently updating both features on their sites. Business Insider discovered that Reels make up 20% of the time people spend on Instagram, and brands are taking notice. Across different industries, brands are increasing their Reel output. 

If you’re a business owner starting to stress about how to create short-form video content, this is where the UGC, or User Generated Content, part comes into play. Sharing content that is already created by customers not only gives brands more content but is also authentic. Real people giving real reviews about products they genuinely love is a powerful marketing tool. 

Social Media Platforms Will Keep Competing with Each other 

Social media platforms continuously try to outperform and copy each other. Instagram stories were inspired by Snap Chat, TikTok Now was inspired by BeReal, and the aforementioned YouTube Shorts and Instagram

Facebook reels need no introduction. 

Rather than being a single unique space, social platforms are trying to be mega-app where users can get everything they want in place. Even Elon Musk most recently is entertaining the idea of having Facebook-like reactions on Twitter. 

Brands Entering the Metaverse 

Love it or hate or just don’t understand it, the Metaverse is becoming popular among major brands such as entertainment and automotive to retail and restaurants, companies across all industries are finding ways to incorporate NFTs, blockchain technology, and virtual reality into their marketing strategies. 

Despite the Metaverse down trending, companies are continuing to launch new metaverse campaigns. Large brands are creating innovative experiences to connect with consumers. 

There are many exciting new opportunities for businesses to leverage social media as a key part of their marketing strategy and with so many options comes uncertainty. B3 Media Solutions use data-driven insights to elevate brands’ marketing strategies to keep them ahead of their competitors. We offer a free 30-minute consultations for enterprise-level businesses. Schedule yours here. 

What We’re Reading:

• The Guardian view on regulating social media: the internet should be safer – The Guardian
• Social media platforms brace for hit to user numbers from age checks – Financial Times
• Twitter Launches Updated Tweet View Count Display on Tweets – Social Media Today
• How to Get More Share of Voice on Social Media
• Social Media Platform Updates December 2022
• How to go Viral on TikTok: Is TrendPop the Answer?