Don't use social media to impress people; use it to impact people.” – Dave Willis, Author and Speaker
Rightly said! There has been a 360-degree shift in the way firms market their products or services on social media in the last two years. And as social media popularity grows, we will have over 3.7 billion social media users worldwide in 2021. Marketers aren't simply wondering how they'll engage massive social media audiences next year. This is the reason a number of digital marketing experts providers are leveraging these trends and helping businesses to grow. If you are someone who is out to make a strong online presence, keeping in touch with the latest trend is a must. Here is a list of research-backed trends that social media marketers should keep an eye on and use in 2022. Let's get started.
TikTok Ruling Social Media
During the pandemic, I started hearing about a new thing that most of my coworkers and acquaintances had in common: TikTok. TikTok's rise has been undoubtedly rapid. In fact, the phrase ‘TikTok' witnessed a 61 percent year-over-year rise in mentions at the start of 2021, and it was the first non-Facebook app to exceed 3 million global downloads.
It's easy to dismiss rapid growth as a temporary trend, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. TikTok provides a unique opportunity to communicate directly with customers, and large brands such as the NBA and Dunkin' Donuts are taking advantage of the platform to reach out to new audiences.
Augmented Reality New Boom
Augmented Reality will become the primary method for consumers to test products and interact with brands. Augmented Reality (AR) has been around for a few years, and it's becoming more usual for firms to employ AR to allow consumers to test things before purchasing them. AR has also shown to be beneficial to a company's bottom line. In fact, AR can increase purchase click-through rates by up to 33%. AR is the most intimate approach to reaching consumers and is more effective at generating results than other kinds of advertising and marketing. It brings the virtual world closer.
Instagram and Twitter Are New Thing
Although Instagram and Twitter aren't new to the social world, many businesses are still experiencing ROI boosts on both platforms. Twitter, for example, gained around 200 million monetizable daily active users in the third quarter of 2020, a 29 percent increase year on year. Instagram, on the other hand, had a roughly 14 percent increase in user time spent on the app between 2019 and 2020, reaching an average of 30 minutes per day. This was a greater increase in engagement than on any other social platform.
As Twitter and Instagram continue to grow in popularity, more marketers will invest in both channels in 2022.
Video Marketing Is New Thing
Video content continues to be one of the most engaging types of material. According to a Cisco study, video content will account for 82% of all web content by 2022. This clearly demonstrates how critical it is to begin employing video content in order to remain relevant in the social media realm.
If you aren't already producing videos, it's time to incorporate them into your content plan. In the foreseeable future, videos will dominate social media, and anyone who fails to recognize this will struggle. What is critical to remember for the future is that long-form content is no longer the route to go. Simply look at the success of Stories, Reels, and TikTok.
Social Audio Will Grow
The clubhouse has grown in popularity since its inception in 2020. Facebook will follow suit in June 2021, when it will officially launch its Live Audio Rooms and podcasts in the United States. And brands are paying attention. According to Hootsuite's 2022 Social Media Trends report, more than 74% of businesses want to invest in audio-only content in the coming year. According to the same poll, the most popular method was hosting a live audio broadcast as a thought leader.
Having said that, the trend has not yet captured the attention of smaller firms, especially given that it is not the most cost-effective type of content marketing. Even if it's merely an audio clip, there's still a message.
Wrapping Up!
These are just a few of the social media trends that will dominate the scene in 2022 and beyond. You may keep ahead of your competitors by capitalizing on these trends. At the end of the day, it's critical to remember that social media is fluid and competitive environment. What worked in the past is not guaranteed to provide the same outcomes in the future. So, hiring a digital marketing experts can help you to stay up to date on the latest advances in these areas and apply them to your social media efforts. Surely, it will help you to stay ahead of the competitive edge.
