The start of a New Year can only mean one thing: a stack of brand-new social media trends are coming your way.
As a brand or business, tapping into the power of social media marketing is non-negotiable. But as we head into 2023, posting without a plan isn’t going to help you hit the goals and milestones you’re working towards.
The solution? To keep your finger on the pulse and understand what it takes to design high-impact social media content.
To stay ahead of the competition, drive engagement and boost sales in 2023, we’ve rounded up 10 social media trends every creator, entrepreneur and business owner needs to know about. Plus, we’ve even got practical and actionable tips you can integrate into your marketing strategy in the New Year.
Trend 1: Social commerce will continue to grow
2022 saw a massive rise in social commerce with social media platforms allowing you to shop all through their platforms. Instagram shopping is one the most popular ways to shop on social media with Instagram continuing to add new features like product tagging, buying through the DMs, and allowing you to create a digital storefront all through the app.
The global social commerce industry is expected to hit $6 trillion by 2026. Figures from Instagram reveal that 70% of people turn to Instagram to discover new products and TikTok Shop is rapidly growing too with 49% of people discovering new products on TikTok.
Marketers and brands have the ability to take advantage of social commerce in 2023 and platforms like TikTok provide an infinite loop in the buying process instead of a traditional marketing funnel.
If you’ve ever seen a product go viral on TikTok and immediately sell out, that’s because there’s no start to finish in the buying journey on TikTok. Instead, you find out about a product, buy it, post about it, participate in the trend, and so on.
Plann’s tips on how to take advantage of social commerce in 2023
• Product Tagging: Turn your Instagram into a digital storefront. With product tagging, you can turn your Reels, carousels and static posts into shoppable pieces of content. The best bit? You can use Product Tagging directly in Plann to streamline your content creation AND intentionally boost your sales!
• Pinterest Product Pins: create lifestyle content featuring your products and link your Pinterest images with products using the power of product pins.
• Use TikTok Shop: open up a TikTok Shop account and share videos of your products with the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt.
Trend 2: Sustainability will become the norm
We’ve heard a lot about sustainability and the environment in the last few years. 2022 saw many brands making the pivot to prioritize sustainability and they were rewarded for it.
82% of consumers want companies to prioritize people and the planet before profits and Gen Z isn’t afraid to reward or punish brands with their wallets. Plus, Gen Z is more likely to shop with sustainable brands and they’re even willing to pay 10% more for it.
75% of millennials are also willing to change their purchasing habits to shop from more sustainable brands.
Plann’s tips on how brands can be more sustainable on social media
• Switch to reusable packaging: make your packaging sustainable and reusable and share posts of people receiving your sustainably packaged products. Use your own branded hashtag to encourage shoppers to post about your products online too!
• Create a circular economy: create a system where customers can trade in their old products and receive a reward. Market this on social media with a dedicated hashtag and share images and videos of people turning in their products.
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• Share your sustainability achievements: share videos, carousels, and static images about how your business is making strides in sustainability. Make a BTS Reel about how your products are made with sustainable materials.
Trend 3: Authenticity will take over
Transparency and authenticity are becoming more and more important to consumers than ever before.
Consumer behavior is changing and people are getting sick of the same old influencer-brand ads leading to ‘influencer fatigue.’ 47% of consumers are getting fatigued by repetitive influencers and 82% of Gen Z value brands that use real-life customers in their marketing than those that don’t.
Plus, apps like BeReal and TikTok Now are proving just how much people are craving authenticity on social media and Emfili predicts that 2023 will be the year of authenticity.
Plann’s tips on how brands can be more authentic with their social media
• Focus on user-generated content (UGC): run a hashtag campaign on Instagram to gather content of customers using your products and share this UGC on social media.
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• Long-term influencer brand partnerships: rather than churning out influencer ads, partner up with a couple of micro-influencers and make them brand ambassadors for months, if not years.
• Share behind-the-scenes content: put real people behind the camera, share team content on your Stories, and make Reels like ‘a day in the office.’
Trend 4: TikTok SEO will dominate
TikTok has become more than just a social media platform where users share funny videos. With TikTok’s massive rise in popularity and engagement, it’s become a marketer’s dream platform, but, it also acts as a search engine.
We’re all used to searching for things on Google which is why SEO is so important to drive website traffic. But, Gen Z is turning to platforms like TikTok as their preferred way to search. According to Google, 40% of young people go to TikTok to search for places to eat instead of using Google Search.
This presents a new opportunity to create content on TikTok that acts as social search optimization with dedicated hashtags and keywords for your niches.
Plann’s tips for harnessing TikTok SEO
• Know your audience: before creating your content, it’s important to understand your audience so you can better inform content strategy. Take advantage of TikTok’s new Audience Insights tool.
• Use keywords and hashtags: instead of hashtags and keywords being an afterthought, use them to inform your content. That means, researching popular and specific hashtags and keywords your audience is already searching for and making content in line with them.
• Need a hand with hashtags? Plann’s got you covered with our Hashtag Manager, packed with 300+ hashtag sets that you can plug and play into your next TikTok caption.
• Use social search optimization in everything you do on social media: add relevant keywords to your TikTok bio and use the right keywords in your captions.
Trend 5: Short-form video content will dominate
86% of businesses already use video as a marketing tool and 87% say video content has increased traffic. A whopping 81% say it’s directly increased their sales.
But, with attention spans getting shorter and shorter these days thanks to TikTok and Reels, video content has to be direct and punchy to keep people engaged.
58% of people will watch a video in full if it’s under 60 seconds and 59.9% of people say they won’t watch a video that’s too long. Short-form videos show the highest ROI of any social media content, so brands need to start incorporating bite-sized content using trends on Instagram and TikTok into their social media strategy.
Plann’s tips for making short-form video content
• Use trending audios: popular sound bites on TikTok and Reels will be your savior. Spend time on TikTok and Reels to find trending audios that relate to your brand and incorporate them into your content. Or browse our weekly recommendations for trending TikTok and Reels sounds!
• Share BTS content: share TikToks and Reels of what goes on in your business. Create short-form video content of how you package orders, a tour of your offices, and what your team wears to a client meeting.
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• Create educational content: 80% of people research a product before they buy it. So, create how-to videos about your products, educate people about what your products do, and create bite-sized DIY videos to target your audience in the decision-making stage of the buying process.
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Trend 6: Closed captioning will be the standard for video content
Not only does including closed captioning in your video content create inclusivity and accessibility, but it’s a great marketing strategy too.
Plus, research shows that 69% of people watch videos with the sound off in public spaces and 80% of people said they’re more likely to watch a video in full if it contained captions. Plus, LinkedIn’s own research shows that 79% of people watch in-feed videos with the sound off.
Using closed captions in your video content keeps people engaged and watching your video in full and using keywords in captions can also help with your social search optimization.
Plann’s tips for producing accessible videos on social media
• Auto-captions: add subtitles to Reels and videos on LinkedIn and make use of TikTok’s auto-captions feature in your TikTok videos.
• Use keywords: in your Reels and TikToks say your keywords out loud so they show up in the captions.
Trend 7: Live shopping will grow
Live shopping first became popular in China where a host like an influencer, celebrity, stylist, or brand owner promotes products through live streaming. Promotions on live shopping expire when the live stream ends which can generate massive traffic, engagement, and sales – all in real time.
Coreseight Research predicts that the live-streaming industry will account for $35 billion in eCommerce sales by 2024. Big brands like Nordstrom and Khiels aren’t the only ones taking advantage of live shopping.
Covey and Joanna Vargas Skincare, both skincare brands have made use of live-stream shopping on the Shop Lit Live platform. Brands can take advantage of these live-streaming platforms or social media platforms that have live features like Instagram Live and TikTok Live to host live-stream events to increase brand awareness, and engagement and boost their sales.
Plann’s tips for live-stream shopping
• Start using live shopping on socials: run monthly live shopping events on Instagram and tag products from your Facebook shop linked to your Instagram account. Your products will show up at the bottom of the screen. YouTube and TikTok also allow you to host live shopping events.
• Use exclusive live shopping discounts: to encourage people to join your live shopping events, promote and use exclusive discounts that are only available for the duration of the live stream.
• Collab with an influencer or industry leader: partner with an influencer, stylist, expert, or brand CEO in your live shopping event to drive engagement and increase viewership.
Trend 8: Using social media for customer service
Long gone are the days when social media is exclusively used for social purposes. With social media becoming more of a retail platform as much as a social platform, using social media for customer service will likely follow.
In fact, Gartner predicts that 60% of customer service requests will be made through digital channels by 2023.
To stay ahead of the game, brands have to utilize social media to handle their customer service. Businesses like PayPal have been using Twitter via @AskPayPal to help get their customer’s issues resolved faster.
Plann’s tips for improving customer service on social media
• Set up chatbots: use chatbots across all your social media accounts like Instagram and Facebook to lower your response times.
• Reply to public comments: publicly acknowledge your customer’s questions and concerns to build a positive brand image where customers can see you’re acknowledging and resolving their concerns.
Trend 9: Micro and nano-influencers will be favored over macro-influencers
Influencer marketing can be challenging for small businesses given they usually come with a high price tag. But, nano and micro-influencers might be the way forward. Nano-influencers have an average engagement rate of 3.69%. That’s double the engagement rate of macro-influencers!
Nano-influencers usually have less than 10,000 followers and have more personal and authentic relationships with their audiences. Micro-influencers have anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 followers and usually make content in a niche area of interest that your brand can utilize.
Plann’s tips for working with micro and nano influencers
• Use micro and nano influencers during product launches: if you’re on a budget, work with smaller, niche influencers during an upcoming product launch to build hype.
• Use influencers that embody your brand’s identity: since macro and nano influencers usually make content that’s specific to a certain niche, find those that relate to your brand’s voice and identity so the partnership is authentic and credible.
Trend 10: Taking a creator-first approach to social media marketing
We’ve already spoken about how 2023 will be the year of authenticity on social media and that means brands have to start acting like creators instead of using ads and campaigns.
67% of consumers don’t trust the ads they see on social media and 74% of people think there are too many ads on social media. The best way to still market on social media without using ads is to be a creator first when you’re making content.
Plus, you’re more likely to receive higher engagement across social media platforms with content that provides value and sparks an interest in your audience. Brands like @duolingo and @ryanair on TikTok take a creator approach to social media marketing and they’ve seen massive results.
Plann’s tips for taking a creator approach to social media marketing
• Use trending sounds and formats: spend time on TikTok and Instagram and find what sounds and formats are trending. Make content that utilizes trends and jump on them quickly.
• Act as a creator, not a marketer: Gen Z is interested in consuming engaging, funny, and authentic content. Make content as if you’re a creator instead of using targeted ads using trending hashtags, sounds, and formats. @facescosmetics is a great example of using a creator-first approach.
Ready to supercharge your success on social media in 2023?
Looking for an all-in-one content creation suite that allows you to manage your social media channels effortlessly? From mapping out your strategy and designing your graphics to saving plug-and-play hashtag sets, you’ll find everything you need inside Plann.
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