Over the past two years, we’ve seen a shift in the way brands use social media to market their products or services.
Moreover, as social media’s popularity continues to expand — we will have over 3.7 billion social media users worldwide by 2021 — marketers aren’t just concerned about how they will communicate with massive social media audiences in the coming year. Also on their minds is the question, “What social media trends should I anticipate to see in this continuously shifting landscape?”
More information on what brands may expect in 2022 and beyond can be found on the HubSpot Blog, which conducted a survey of over 1,000 marketing professionals to determine which trends B2B and B2C firms will utilise in 2022. Additional research included interviews and a review of the 2022 Social Media Trends Report by HubSpot and Talkwalker, which provided fresh perspectives on the following year.
I’ve produced a list of ten expert- or research-backed topics that social media marketers should keep an eye on and capitalise on in 2022. Let’s get started.
Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2022
1. TikTok will continue to dominate the social media arena in the near future.
As a result of the pandemic, I began to hear about a new thing that most of my coworkers and acquaintances were talking about: TikTok.
TikTok has experienced unquestionably rapid growth. According to data from Google Trends, the term ‘TikTok’ was used 61% more often than it was in the previous year at the start of 2020. TikTok also became the first non-Facebook app to exceed 3 million global downloads.
Fast growth can be mistaken for a temporary trend, but this doesn’t appear to be the case in this instance, according to the data. Major companies such as the NBA and Dunkin’ Donuts are using TikTok to reach new audiences, according to HubSpot’s social team, who believes the app provides unique potential for direct customer engagement and interaction.
“In 2020, TikTok will be the world’s most downloaded app,” says Ben Jeffries, CEO of Influencer.com, “and with increasing numbers of consumers opting for the creative and humorous entertainment platform, brands are waking up to the opportunity to capture new audiences and showcase their brand personality.”
Other social media organisations have taken inspiration from TikTok’s prominence to make changes to the features of their own platforms. Consider the following examples: Instagram, in its own version called Reels, incorporated TikTok-like elements; and the social media platform Reddit, which just unveiled a similar short-form video function on its own platform.
As Elena Melnikova, Chief Marketing Officer of Talkwalker, explained to me, “When the pandemic brought us online, social media became our lifeline – for everything from buying to communication to work.” TikTok became the go-to channel for those looking for amusement. It brought a grin to our faces. It made us laugh out loud. It helped to alleviate the boredom of being confined to one’s house. We couldn’t wait to get to the celebration.
Melnikova continues, “Lockdown has supercharged TikTok,” she says. Because the platform has evolved at such a rapid pace, marketers can no longer afford to ignore its potential. Due to its large Millennial and Generation Z audiences, which are tech-savvy generations who demand innovation, originality, personalization, and transparency from brands, TikTok will assist brands in connecting with a younger, more creative demographic.”
The popularity of TikTok will continue to grow in 2022 as more brands investigate how they can use the app’s widespread use to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences, according to Gartner. On the social media landscape as a whole, we will be watching to see whether and how TikTok’s ripple effect expands, as other platforms change their features to place a greater emphasis on short-form, “snackable” material.
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2. Reaching new audiences will surpass all other social media objectives for businesses in the near future.
According to HubSpot’s Blog Research, the major goals of most marketers’ social media strategies in 2021 were as follows:
- Products and services are promoted through advertising (35 percent )
- Expanding the reach of the brand and reaching new audiences (34 percent )
- Increasing revenue/sales is a top priority (34 percent )
However, 76 percent of marketers anticipate that their objectives will shift in 2022.
As we approach the year 2022, the key objectives of most marketers are as follows:
- Expanding the reach of the brand and reaching new audiences (39 percent )
- Developing relationships with customers and boosting brand loyalty are two important goals (33 percent )
- Increasing customer satisfaction and retention (32 percent )
During the pandemic, the majority of consumers were forced to adopt a purchasing strategy that was centred on the internet.
With 2022 fast approaching, organisations should be thinking about how they can attract new audiences through social media, deepen their relationships with existing audiences, and improve their customer service in order to ensure long-term client loyalty.
It’s vital to maintain an active and regular social media presence, to take advantage of current trends and popular content, and to invest in high-quality creative materials if you want to see a rise in your following.
As an added bonus, you’ll want to engage with your followers through interactive aspects such as polls, Q&As, and live broadcasts in order to build stronger ties with your existing audiences.
3. Businesses will recruit more people who are committed to social media.
Social media marketing is an indisputably effective method for growing your company.
And social media isn’t simply for raising awareness of a company’s products or services. It’s also a powerful instrument for earning revenue for businesses. As a matter of fact, 79 percent of respondents believe that user-generated material on social media has a substantial influence on their shopping decisions.
As a result, more organisations will make dedicated social media jobs in 2022, rather than assigning social media responsibilities to a busy marketing team as a side project.
According to Aytekin Tank, the Founder and CEO of Jotform, “One important trend for social media marketing in 2022 is to make a dedicated employee,” he explained. Companies commonly delegate social media management to a committee or to a marketing generalist with little or no experience. However, when social media is not emphasised, businesses miss out on the opportunity to optimise platforms and transform them into revenue producers.”
“A dedicated social media hire can help organisations solve this problem by assisting them in growing platforms, keeping track of social analytics, participating in industry-specific conversations, experimenting with new platforms and trends, and more — all of which contributes to a stronger brand and more leads for their company.” We’ve done that here at Jotform, and it’s well worth the effort.”
Think about hiring a social media community manager to help you establish and engage with your online audiences if you haven’t already done so. It’s worth it if your audience is ready to participate with your company through social media because these managers are responsible for setting the tone, voice, and dialogues for your brand on social media.
Also Read: Tips to Grow on Instagram
4. Augmented Reality will surpass traditional methods of product testing and brand interaction as the preferred method for customers.
In recent years, brands have increasingly turned to augmented reality to allow consumers to try out products before making a purchase. Augmented reality has been around for a few years, and it is becoming increasingly common for brands to use it to enable consumers to test products before making a purchase.
AR has also been shown to be beneficial to the bottom line of a company. In fact, augmented reality can increase click-through rates to buy by as much as 33 percent.
According to Carolina Arguelles Navas, Snap Inc.’s Head of Augmented Reality Product Strategy and Product Marketing, by 2022, augmented reality (AR) will have surpassed traditional shopping as the preferred method for consumers to try on things.
“When it comes to brands, augmented reality is the most intimate approach to reach people and is more effective at delivering outcomes when compared to other kinds of advertising and marketing,” says Navas.
“We’ve seen an explosion in interest and engagement with augmented reality over the last two years, with over 200 million Snapchatters engaging with augmented reality on a daily basis,” Navas says. “This is a trend that is here to stay, and it is only going to grow in the future.”
If you believe augmented reality (AR) could be a good fit for your brand, Snapchat is an excellent platform to test it out. The social media platform reaches over 90 percent of 13-24 year olds and over 75 percent of 13-34 year olds in the United States, including nearly one out of every two smartphone users, making it a good opportunity to get your products in front of a large number of consumers.
5. Businesses in the business-to-business arena will expand their investments in social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter.
Although Instagram and Twitter are not new to the social media arena, many marketers are still witnessing increases in return on investment (ROI) across both platforms.
For example, Twitter reached around 200 million monetizable daily active users in the third quarter of 2020, an increase of 29 percent year on year.
Instagram, on the other hand, had an almost 14 percent increase in the amount of time its users spend on the platform between 2019 and 2020, with an average of 30 minutes per day spent on the service. This was a faster rate of engagement growth than on any of the other social media platforms combined.
We will see more marketers investing in both Twitter and Instagram in 2022 as their respective platforms continue to prosper. According to HubSpot’s Blog, 70 percent of marketing professionals intend to increase their investment in Twitter in 2022, while 63 percent intend to increase their investment in Instagram in 2022.
In 2022, think about where you might be able to expand your own investments in order to get a better return on the platform(s) that are already servicing your target audiences.
