The past few years have brought a lot of focus onto the digital sphere. With all of that time in isolation, it’s no wonder that people have begun turning to social media for entertainment and interaction. But, it’s not just consumers who have been turning their attention to social media — businesses have begun embracing these platforms as well to better interact and attract their customers.
Keeping on top of the constantly changing social media trends can be really difficult but is absolutely essential to keep your business competitive in the incredibly active digital market.
Here, we will dive into the current and projected trends for 2022.
The Trends
Here are 10 of the biggest trends to keep an eye on as we continue in 2022.
1. Live Videos
We can expect to see a continuation of the rising popularity of live videos or live-streaming from not only social media influencers but also businesses and social media users.
Alongside this rise of live-streaming comes the continued growth of the eCommerce practice of live shopping. Live shopping was popularized during the past few years of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and offers consumers a comforting and personalized atmosphere with others while also offering the convenience of shopping from home.
2. Short Video Content
Videos are a great way of easily getting across your business’s message without requiring your customers (or potential customers) to actively seek out your brand. Especially with the continually growing number of short-form video content options — such as reels, stories, shorts, and TikToks — businesses can easily create these low-production advertisements of their products that customers will see and interact with.
These short videos are attention-grabbing and function best when kept under a minute long.
3. Influencer Marketing
Social media influencers are expected to continue being an excellent resource and marketing option for businesses because they are able to introduce a product to a loyal and engaged following that trusts their opinions.
And as social media usage continues to increase, more influencers are rising and offering more relatable and engaging content to their followers that allow for businesses to pursue valuable partnerships and sponsorships.
4. Local Targeting
Rather than focusing on everyone on social media platforms all of the time, there has been a rising focus on targeting more local areas — especially for smaller businesses. This helps brands to build more of a community and connect better to their customers as well as helping social media users to connect more deeply with their local communities.
5. User-Generated Content
Another social media trend that is expected to continue gaining traction is utilizing user-generated content to help advertise a brand’s product. This is much more relatable for many consumers and helps give brands a better connection with their customers.
6. AR and VR Technology
Augmented reality or virtual reality technology is not new to 2022, but it is expected to become much more popular across both business marketing and social media platforms. This is because this technology offers a much more immersive experience for customers.
7. TikTok
Just as it did over the past year, TikTok is expected to continue rising in popularity — especially with the younger generations. Because TikTok features the short-form videos that consumers are interested in viewing, it makes it a perfect platform for businesses to connect with younger audiences about their brand.
8. Inclusivity
Consumers are looking for more inclusivity (of body types, genders, ethnicities, etc.) across their social media feeds — whether in marketing campaigns for products or with influencers. Focusing on being more inclusive is going to be extremely important for businesses going forward as many people are more likely to choose one brand over another if that brand shows more commitment to diversity and inclusivity.
9. Sustainability
Over this past year, a lot of attention has been brought to the climate change crisis and many social media platforms have dedicated communities focusing on how to be more environmentally conscious both as individuals and as a society. This sustainability focus is expected to continue increasing throughout the year and to stay on the good side of these conscious consumers, many businesses are going to want to embrace some more sustainable approaches. However, be wary of artificially “greenwashing” your public image as these keen communities will likely find out and call companies out on it!
10. Self-Care
As we move further into 2022, we are expecting to see an increase in efforts to reduce “burnout” and more of a focus on self-care and improving the mental health of creators, influencers, and the public as a whole.
Wrapping Up
Keeping up with trends (especially social media trends) can be extremely challenging because they have a tendency to change without warning. However, as social media platforms continue to rise in popularity and more of the public rely on them for not only communication with friends and family but also marketplaces, businesses need to keep up with these trends in order to stay appealing to their customers.
So, as the year continues, keep these 10 social media trends in mind and if you are not already working on ways to improve your online presence and market your brand with social media, contact us at APS Central to make sure you don’t fall behind the pack!