The social media landscape is highly competitive and ever-changing. It’s also the place for brands to showcase their products and engage their customer base. With so many social media platforms to choose from, it can be difficult to keep up with what’s new and what opportunities are out there for driving brand awareness.
We’ve put together this article to explain what trends you can expect in the coming year and where to focus your attention.
1. Social media goes back to its “roots”
The meteoric rise of TikTok gave birth to a brand new social media culture that focuses on the content itself, rather than the number of followers. This shift may cause companies to reassess what their presence should look like. With companies focusing more on brand awareness and connecting with their customers.
For example, Facebook have now added a ‘Feeds tab’ that recommends content from friends, groups, or pages to users that are customized and can be curated in a ‘Favourites’ tab.
Instagram has also taken steps to promote recommended media, creating “Candid Challenges”. This feature, in response to the rising popularity of BeReal, allows users to share a photo of themselves in a different 2-minute time slot each day.
2. A new era of influencers
Influencer marketing is also set to get more authentic in 2023. It’s no longer just about the mega influencers with millions of followers, it’s more about micro-influencers with dedicated followers that can create exceptional user-generated content (UGC).
There is a difference between influencer content and UGC content. Influencer content contains sponsored posts and a contractual agreement. Whereas UGC is simply someone talking about your brand. It’s important for companies to find influencers that are relevant to their audience or industry. This is especially true for SMEs and B2B brands.
3. TikTok offers new features and attracts B2B
TikTok continues to evolve as a social media platform in 2023. The platform announced its focuses for this year are: actionable entertainment, making space for joy, and community-built ideals.
But what does this mean for your business? Marketers will need to create videos that are not only entertaining, but personalised and uplifting too. Not solely sales focused.
TikTok has advised marketers to aim to make its audience feel special. “Don't be afraid to target layered identities—speaking to #TiredMums instead of all mums, or #CozyGamers instead of all gamers.”
4. Video production will continue to get more backing
At this point, it’s safe to say that video isn’t going anywhere. In 2023 the video landscape is set to become more complex with different formats gaining popularity.
Long-form video could well be one such format. Especially as it can now be used on LinkedIn live. This will allow businesses to host webinars, workshops, or seminars to inform and influence prospects and clients.
This will result in brand story telling will become more prevalent, as businesses compete to stand out.
5. Edutainment
Edutainment isn’t just for kids anymore. Last year, a few select industries tapped into the value of creating entertaining, informative content. In 2023, this trend is set to bloom, with a myriad of industries getting in on the fun.
With videos’ popularity on the rise too, this fosters perfect conditions for fun facts and tutorials to thrive on social. Educational content should also be considered when partnering with influencers.
Final thoughts
Social media offers many opportunities for marketers and businesses. With these latest trends of educational content, long form video and brand storytelling amongst them. That said, there is some skill required in knowing which trend is right for your business. If you’d like some direction, contact our team to see how we can help.