The 1st quarter is almost over, so our Social Media Department decided to share a detailed perspective on what’s to come in 2023.
If you have 3 minutes:
– Social media users have grown from 1 billion in 2012 to over 4.62 billion.
– A transition away from transactional marketing messages and toward posts that are more an intimate conversation with the audience.
– Businesses are being forced to reconsider their strategy and produce more compelling content that connects with customers on an emotional level.
– The vast majority of mobile video consumption—83% on video sites and 92% overall—occurs in “portrait” because the smartphone’s orientation is conducive to vertical video.
– Although it has had a slow and conflicting development in 2022 social commerce is likely to continue its growth this year.
– Personalization makes customers feel like they have some control over what they wish to see and it saves them from information overload.
– Further down the road, it is expected that social media platforms will no longer be the primary means of communication with our friends and family.
Some figures for context
Social media has come a long way in the last 10-15 years. And with it comes the evolution of how consumers and companies interact. Technology has matured and social platforms are more advanced than ever before. Social media users have grown from 1 billion in 2012 to over 4.62 billion as of this writing (DataReportal, 2022). In comparison to the 1.48 billion users we estimated in 2012, there are currently 4.62 billion social media users worldwide, growing at a CAGR of 12.1% over the past ten years. Social media has already embedded itself so deeply into our daily lives that we cannot imagine living without it. We spend more time than ever before on social media, and the number of users is continually growing.
In order to provide you with a broad idea of what social media might look like in 2023 and how your business might stay on trend, our social media team has put up some forecasts for you.
Posts will be more personal, less promotional
Nowadays, it is a norm that people exchange their opinions, ideas, and knowledge mostly through social media. As a result, we’re noticing a movement away from transactional marketing messages and toward posts that are more intimate conversation with the audience. Expectations are evolving as users become more knowledgeable about how companies use social media and how to avoid being swamped with promotions. Users are increasingly looking for something that is more personalized or authentic rather than interacting with brands to see what new services or products they provide.
In the last several years, consumer confidence has fallen to an all-time low. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, only 34% of customers trust the brands they use to make purchases. This is why modern organizations must focus on developing a genuine brand image (Edelman). According to a Stackla analysis on consumer content, 86% of consumers consider authenticity to be very important when making decisions (Stackla). Additionally, according to the same study, a staggering 90% of millennials believe authenticity is crucial for branding, and they like “genuine and organic” businesses over those that are “polished and packaged.”
Businesses are being forced by this change in consumer behavior to reconsider their strategy and produce more compelling content that connects with customers on an emotional level rather than just pushing products or services. Knowing your audience is the first step to producing amazing personal content, and the easiest way to achieve this is to look at what interests them on social media. You’ll have intriguing information to share if you can figure out the things that appeal to them and develop content around those subjects.
Make sure that your posts are understandable by as many people as you can if you want more people to read them. Short bursts of text should be avoided, and any visual elements that some people might find challenging to view with their eyes should be used sparingly (such as an image with text).
Short-Form Vertical Video’s (Continued) Rise
Over the past few years, video material has significantly increased. The amount of time people spend watching online videos has been increasing, with the current average watcher watching 100 minutes each day. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of mobile video consumption—83% on video sites and 92% overall—occurs in “portrait” because the smartphone’s orientation is conducive to vertical video.
Online videos have a lot of potential for helping businesses connect with customers. But in order to accommodate their preferences, you must precisely know what they are watching. For instance, the large audience for tutorials and how-to videos may indicate that it is worthwhile to invest in making a how-to product video. This is particularly true if your items provide something unique or if their value proposition cannot be adequately expressed through text or still photos. A sense of community and a relationship with your customers can be fostered through video live feeds.
The most recent data on online video consumption shows that 92.8% of internet users watch digital videos on a weekly basis. More than ever, short video content is increasingly crucial. Short videos are easier for consumers to watch on their mobile devices, and this trend will last until 2023. Video content is already transitioning towards informal, spontaneous storytelling, moving away from longer-form vlogs and into no-frills talks on particular issues. Even video editing is shifting toward being more narrative-focused, such as when utilizing numerous programs to produce smart edits.
Making your video stand out in a sea of imitations is now the difficulty. Therefore, we anticipate a growth in the number of businesses and producers who use well-known sounds to launch their own “trends” and give them a personal touch. Use YOXO as an illustration: https://www.tiktok.com/@yoxomobile/video/7191764627275910406?lang=en SAU https://www.tiktok.com/@yoxomobile/video/7189597554198220038?lang=en]
Rise of Social Commerce
Social media has been mostly known as a channel to drive awareness and engagement, and much less as a transactional platform. Social commerce is changing all that. It enables customers to purchase products directly from social media without intermediary steps making the shopping experience presumably smoother and faster.
Although it has had a slow and conflicting development in 2022 with Instagram planning to remove the Shop tab, Meta shutting down its live commerce functionality on Facebook and TikTok delaying the launch of live shopping in Europe and US, social commerce is likely to continue its growth this year. Start by leveraging Facebook Shop, using shoppable Instagram feeds, Pinterest Buyable Pins and jump on the TikTok wagon.
Focus on data and personalization
The era of bulk messaging is coming to an end. Impersonal brand propaganda on social media at the expense of relevant and useful content has been one of the reasons behind Facebook users’ exodus. The increasing popularity of TikTok with its recommendation algorithm based on individual interests is showing that users favor content tailored to their needs and wants.
The need for personalized content can even be explained through some psychological drivers. A study conducted by the University of Texas, mentioned by SocialPilot, has shown that personalization makes customers feel like they have some control over what they wish to see and it saves them from information overload.
Personalized content has, thus, become a prerogative for a successful social media strategy in 2023 and what better way to effectively serve your audience than through the use of data analysis. Demographic details, behavioral and personal factors help you create social media personas which can guide your social media strategy (the social platforms you need to focus on, the type of content and tone of voice that resonates with them etc), while activity metrics indicate what posts perform best and worst or at what time of the day your audience is most active so that you can create and publish the content that has the maximum impact. For example, a shop selling photo-video content can identify that one of its main social media personas are enthusiasts starting a new hobby on the look-out for educational content and professional advice. They spend more time on Facebook, watching video content and are more active after 6pm. Hence, educational type posts featuring interviews or reviews from professionals in the business can drive more engagement than others.
Moreover, other analytical tools like Google Analytics provide further insight into your personalization efforts by indicating popular content, user behavior on your website, popular products or audiences and even pain points. Even more, it is expected that this year will be the beginning of a new AI-driven marketing era with individual-tailored ads, messaging and experience.
More automation & personalization
In general, we should expect to see more customized content and a larger focus on quantity over quality. Customization is becoming more popular as more companies use artificial intelligence (AI) to give their customers content that is tailored precisely for them. This suggests that AI use will become much more pervasive than it presently is, and we should expect this trend to continue well into 2023.
Takeaways and conclusions
The social media world keeps on changing and in 2023 it won’t be any different. As we move through the next few years, things are going to change. Social media platforms will no longer be the primary means of communication with our friends and family. 2023 will be an exciting time, as we see digital marketing trends and the way we use social media shift dramatically. What kind of innovation will businesses uncover to ensure their survival? We can’t wait to find out and share.