Trends for social media marketing in 2022

Social Media Marketing is something that we are always asked about, how to stay relevant, updates on the platforms and what is going to become the new trend. At KH Digital our Social Media Marketing team have put together a few trends and things to look out for in 2022 from a few of the most popular social platforms.

Trends for social media marketing in 2022

Social Media Marketing

This involves giving your business a voice, a personality that connects with the target audience to build trust and loyalty. It mainly requires being connected, relevant and sharing information that’s valuable to your audience. In order to do this it is important to be aware of things that are trending on social media and both what’s happening and updating on the platforms themselves so you can use them to their full potential.

A lot can happen in a year in the world of social media, new platforms emerge, popularity fluctuates and user habits change. In 2021 we have seen a shift in general lifestyle habits and the economy, both of which change how we behave online. Some of these behaviours can be observed through trends, it is now so important to keep up with trends within marketing in order to stay relevant. A couple of trends to note over the last year have been the fad of banana bread and P.E with Joe Wicks, both saw incredible amounts of traction within the general population, increasing the sales of related products where marketers took advantage of this.

The pandemic meant what we were looking for online and what we wanted from our social media platforms changed drastically. Suddenly the majority of the population were working from home, with limited access to shops that were open, therefore online spending dramatically increased. This has still become the reality for many and the way we now spend online has become a habit, social media platforms are looking to capitalise on this throughout 2022.

Facebook

Still remains one the biggest platforms with active users, partly because of its ability to evolve to what people want to use it for. Now communicating and messaging, one of the main reasons it was developed, is now overshadowed by eCommerce and Marketplace.

In-stream shopping for instance, is expected to become one their key focuses for 2022. The idea being that when a user is watching a live stream from a particular user or account, the products mentioned are displayed with links for users to be able to buy whilst watching. It’s an engaging way to get users to ask questions about the product, see it being used and convince them to buy through increased connection. It would also not be surprising to see Facebook streamline this experience further by producing more shoppable posts, introducing faster payment processes (maybe even introducing their own) and giving users alerts for products that are buyable in-stream.

This new experience gives businesses the opportunity to display their products, and links to them, more easily than ever before. Decreasing the time that users need to contemplate purchases and reducing the difficulty in trying to find the products that they see on their favourite channels or promoted by influencers.

Facebook Ads is also looking to streamline its processes. It will increase the amount of features that will be automated through the process of setting up campaigns. Similarly, it is looking to implement more systems that learn user habits and behaviours despite ever increasing data and personal information restrictions. Both of these updates, likely to happen in 2022, are designed to make the whole process of setting up a Facebook Ad campaign quicker, easier and more cost effective by targeting a more qualified audience.

Trends for social media marketing in 2022

Instagram

Facebook’s other social platform, Instagram is also likely to update to follow the new way of living and shopping to which we have all become accustomed to. The main focus, and theme that you will see throughout all of the different platforms, is eCommerce. They aim to make all posts shoppable through the app, by links, tags and product discovery (it hopes to do this by increasing the accuracy of its products identification tools in both video and stills). The more different options that Instagram can put in, the more it can encourage habitual spending from users.

Throughout the pandemic, what users were looking at on Instagram changed. Rather than just still images, users were increasingly choosing to view videos and reels. It’s thought that in early 2022, when the app is opened Instagram will show Stories or Reels opposed to the traditional latest posts and feed. Reels is now Instagram’s fastest growing engagement element, and it’s set to refine and encourage use.

Trends for social media marketing in 2022

Twitter

Twitter is looking at introducing features that will be more inline with its competitors. By introducing features such as shopping from Tweets, Professional Profiles and building ways for creators to make revenue from their tweets, Twitter is introducing an eCommerce first approach heading into 2022.

Twitter Blue is also set to be a major push. The subscription service is aimed for delivering users a highly personalised experience, showing only things that are relevant to them, and offering them more functions such as tweet undo. The idea of this is to help deliver messages to those with the most intent so could be highly beneficial to marketing, however, it needs enough users to switch to make the audience profitable.

Tiktok

One of the most popular platforms that has gained traction over the past year especially is Tiktok, it now has over a billion active users. Unlike other platforms, Tiktok cannot use a general approach to its marketing; it requires a dedicated, platform specific, relevant approach. Its users search and engage based on trends, which are happening right now, and for this reason it’s one of the fastest moving. It’s thought that to help marketers in 2022, it will introduce features to allow the latest and up and coming trends to be viewed more easily and allow video challenges to be built into campaigns featuring branded hashtags.

In order to keep users creating content, they are also looking into increasing the ways that influencers can make revenue from the platform. That again means including eCommerce, sponsored content and shopping instream. The algorithm that works to show users content that interests them and creators that they like, is thought to potentially expand to products as well.

Trends for social media marketing in 2022

LinkedIn

LinkedIn looks set to change its focuses due to the pandemic. Working from home has caused a shift from what people want from their careers, they want greater flexibility. LinkedIn is going to increase its focus on facilitating remote working and opportunities for individuals by hosting live stream events, capitalising on the fact that there is still uncertainty about in person networking and business talks. They are also going to provide opportunities for rebuilding brands and their connections. Facilitate growth by enabling businesses to expand their audiences through online broadcasts.

Another feature that they are going to improve is the way they can aid businesses in recruitment, a unique aspect of their platform. Its new video connection will aid with remote interviews whilst its database will provide better job matches.

To summarise, regardless of the platform there is a definite shift towards an eCommerce focus on socials for next year. It’s important to keep up with these changes so that any social media marketing is as relevant as possible to each platform and audience and that they are performing to the best of their ability.

At KH Digital, if you need help managing or would like any advice on social media marketing then please get in contact for a no obligation chat.

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