Here are the social media trends that every business owner and founder needs to know in 2023!
Trend #1: Less trend chasing, more strategy
We can definitely stand behind this trend! Business owners, marketers and social media marketers will stop chasing new features and tactics, and instead go back to the basics with a strategy first approach. After all, copying other users features in the hope of attracting and keeping more users could feel very exhausting! From being more strategic in channel & content selection, to using the different platforms for different purposes, brands are becoming less trend focused and more strategy oriented. Brand owners or their SMM's should focus on creating content that’s well suited their audience and then shape per platform, rather than trying to keep up with every feature-level change thrown their way.
Trend #2: Trust And Authenticity Reign
Goodbye to highly curated feeds, big studio photoshoots + productions, hello to relatable personalities and bodies and real time content.
What do BeReal, Instagram Candid and TikTok Now all have in common? In the moment, true to life documentation and increased authenticity, which audiences now seem to crave over polished, overly curated content.
The days of hard-selling, brand forward promotions on social media also seem to be numbered. A combination of strained relationships between brands and their audiences, as well as increased consumer cynicism and a demand for more authentic experiences, as a society, we seem to be moving away from the contrived. Relaxed content, conversational tones and filter free, organic photos will continue to be prioritized.
Trend #3: Growing Utilization Of User-Generated Content
Did you know, brands that incorporate UGC have a 20% increase in return visitors and a 90% increase in the time that consumers spend on their websites (source: AD Week). There will be a push for brands to become more interactive, humanizing their businesses to nurture authenticity and increase engagement. UGC fosters a close connection with real customers that cultivates strong brand-customer relationships, and in turn credibility. From encouraging audiences to participate in campaigns or working with creators to feature brands, adding the human touch will be a big priority this year.
Trend #4: Creator Economy Booms
It is estimated that the creator economy is currently used by 75% of marketers, a number that is projected to climb as high as 86% in the next three years (source: Digiday).
Brands are cozying up to creators and with good reason. Working with content creators allows brands to personalize their content - this means the content better speaks to the person viewing and interacting with it - because the creator represents the customer’s specific persona. These collaboration helps brands produce content that is more relevant to their audiences and native to the platforms they are appearing on. As such, marketers continue to turn to influencers and creators who represent these different personas, to create a diverse range of content that they can use to target consumers with personalized content.
Pro Tip 1: if you are a small business - larger brands are tightening up their creator budgets due to news of an economic recession, so there’s an opportunity for small businesses to work with top creators at lower price points and more opportunity for negotiation.
Pro tip 2: if you don’t have a budget, a powerful and cost-effective way to create content is with brands own employees. Beyond being some of the best advocates for a brand, employees can help attract talent, demonstrate on-brand thought leadership, and drive additional revenue without increasing your ad budget. In fact, content shared by an employee receives 800% more engagement than content shared by brand channels (source: Sprout Social). Employee advocates can drive many of the same benefits as content creators, leading to increased trust and positive brand perception (source: Jamie Gilpin, Chief Marketing Officer of Sprout Social via Forbes).
Trend #5: Continued rise of nano + micro influencers
Nano-influencers make up 90% of successful influencer marketing campaigns (source: influencermarketinghub.com). Seen as more credible, they connect your brand with niche audiences, giving direct access to your target market and speak to more private, niche groups and intimate online spaces. Additionally, nano-influencers are more likely to engage and respond to comments, provide answers or provoke questions to their followers to better understand them. Speaking to Trend #2, authenticity goes a long way as genuine interaction leads to a more trusting and engaged audience. Working with micro influencers also means that you don’t have to spend tons of money on one campaign. There is so much to gain from these partnerships.
Trend #6: Artificial Intelligence Continues to Grow
From the controversial avatar app Lensa.ai that caused a storm, to AI generated copywriting tools like Copy.ai , Anyword and now Canva Doc's Magic Write, AI writing assistants (or content generators), can help spark new ideas faster and more effectively than ever before. AI models can generate content like social media posts, blogs, emails, advertisements, and other content.
AI is also being used to create personalized, targeted content by analyzing and processing individualized customer data, which is more likely to be read and shared by a specific segment.
It can also be used to boost customer support via chat bots, as well as learn from interactions with customers and improve responses. If AI is unable to help a customer, it can refer them to a human to help resolve their query.
The future might feel intimidating and scary, but it seems to be more apparent that if you embrace AI, you could positively enhance your business.
Trend #7: TikTok + IG become the new search engines
Who needs google when there’s IG Academy? Gone are the days that you scroll through Google’s long list of results. Yes, younger generations are looking to social platforms like TikTok and IG for things like travel inspo, news, recipes, and the like. In fact, in September 2022, the New York Times even proclaimed that “For Gen Z, TikTok is the New Search Engine”. 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds are now using social media as their primary search engine, according to an internal study by Google, and we predict this percentage to steadily rise in the months and years to come. Keep an eye on this rising trend.
Trend #8: An Increase in Gated Content
Gated content becomes more mainstream, as business owners and creators want to build their following outside of just the prominent social media apps and “own” their content. There’s a fatigue of the routine “suggested content” on social feeds and creators and businesses alike would like to foster deeper relationships with their most loyal followers. Creators and businesses can also monetize exclusive content towards these loyal followers and fans. The growing popularity of instagram subscriptions and Substack caters to this growing shift.
Trend #9: Shorter form, bite sized content continues to prevail
Did you know that the engagement rate for image, video and carousel posts has decreased 44% since 2019 (source: Later). Additionally, static posts become less important to the algorithm as people's attention spans continue to decrease. Studies suggest that the attention span of the average person today is 8 seconds - down from 12 seconds 20 years ago (source: Muckrack)
Short form video content is also king because it creates repetitive consumption. The shorter the video, the more likely the content is consumed more than once. It is important to have the message ingrained into the viewer’s mind repeatedly, especially for brands.
Pro tips: use CTA’s and a hook, use compelling and eye catching visuals and graphics, make sure the content is clear and easy to consume and understand. Tag other companies and people mentioned in your posts.